Forget Me Nots
by Luna-Kitsune-Blu
Summary: There has been a carwreck leaving the Doc in a coma and Conan with amnesia. Slowly bits and pieces come back to him but without the Doc he can't tell the difference between Conan's life and Jimmy's. Will his memory return before his cover's blown skyhigh?
1. Prolouge: Rain, Rain, Go Away

Blu: So, umm…yeah. First DC fic, so PLEASE don't flame my ass for minor mistakes! –hides- I really wish I could use the Japanese names, but I only know a few, so for now I'll stick with the American ones, even if they suck.

Also, I've tweaked some stoof, so I hope no one is _too_ finds it unbelievable. Just don't hurt me! –hides more-

Other then that, have a nice read! (hopefully)

Read, Review, and Wait, the three things that happen on this site.

* * *

**Prologue: Rain, Rain, Go Away**

* * *

"But Rach!" 

Rachel Moore glared down at him as she pulled him down the street by his wrist, obviously annoyed. "No, Conan," she snapped, yanking him by the arm so he would walk next to her instead of dragging behind, "for the last time, **you can't come!**" He cringed at her tone. "And don't call me 'Rach'," she added sharply.

"But _Raaaaaaaaaacheeeeeeeeeeel_!" he whined, waving his wrist around to get it out of her stone grip. "I don't wanna go to smelly Dr. Agasa's!" Rachel gave him a spectacle look over her shoulder. "There's never anything to do!" he explained while vainly digging his heels into the pavement to slow them down. Rolling her eyes at his attempt, the teenage karate master pulled him forward again to keep him at her pace.

"You said the same thing about our house the last time Serena came over," she replied in a bored tone, "and you stayed along then. Why would you want to stay with us now?"

"You're going to the theme park, aren't you?" he asked, again trying to wiggle his way out of her grip. "I wanna go to the theme park with you!" Rachel looked down to see him staring at her with big pleading eyes. The thickness of his glasses wasn't helping either. She let out a defeated sigh before slowing their pace to a lazy walk.

"I'm sorry, Conan, but…you just can't come," she explained weakly while she stared absently ahead of her.

"Why?" He had asked that question so much lately, the word had lost most of its meaning. He looked up at the girl who had been appointed so suddenly as his 'keeper', not knowing the whole history behind him was no more then a ruse. Her eyes had trialed from infront of her to her feet.

"I'm meeting someone today," she answered quietly. He came to a sudden halt, surprising her.

"You're WHAT?!" he demanded. Rachel blinked. "I…I mean, what about Jimmy?" he added quickly, rubbing the back of his neck nervously with his free hand. Rolling her eyes, Rachel started walking down the street again, pulling him as laughed nervously behind her.

"Serena thinks I should give up on him," she replied slowly, a distant look in her eyes. "Jimmy, I mean." He felt his heart, at least the Jimmy Kudo half, constrict on itself. Almost instantly Rachel moved her hand from his wrist to his palm and gave a tight squeeze. "I really don't want to," she whispered, gripping his hand firmly in hers as they walked. He gave a mental sigh of relief. "Sure, he's a total jerk for not calling me in forever and ever, and when he does all he can talk about is his stupid case and never ONCE asks how I'm doing-" Her grip tightened, making him let out a squeak of surprise, "-but I love him." Her iron grasp on his hand loosened to a lazy hold. Another mental sigh of relief. "Serena just doesn't seem to understand that."

_Note to self, _he thought while absently rubbing his now throbbing hand, _call Rachel when ever possible to avoid pain in either body. _

"That reminds me," Rachel continued, "I hope Jimmy's okay. The doctor said he's been getting nothing but bad leads and its been only getting harder for him. This case must really be something to keep him tied up for this long."

_That rotten old coot! _he thought as he glared ahead of him. _He's been selling me out! _His attention returned to Rachel when she gave his hand another squeeze.

"I wonder why he's calling Doctor Agasa, but not me," she muttered, tears slowly forming in her eyes.

"I bet he doesn't want to worry you," he answered. _That, and the old Doc gives some pretty good advice,_ he finished with a slight smile. "I'm sure you'll hear from him soon." Rachel nodded, convincing her self he was right.

Still at their slow pace, the pair rounded the corner in silence. Infront of them loomed their destination. He gave a yelp as reality sank in. He was about to lose. Trying frantically to pull out of her grip, he began to smack the back of Rachel's hand with his fist as hard as possible. NOT a good move on his part. In a split second she moved her grip from his hand back to his wrist and yanked him up in the air so they came eye-to-eye.

"**Knock. It. Off."** she barked. He gulped loudly before nodding his head multiple times.

"Y-yes ma'am!" he squeaked weakly. The teenager holding him suspended in the air flashed a triumphant grin before setting her captive back safely onto his own feet. Shoving his free hand roughly into his pocket, he reluctantly let Rachel pull him to the front door. The taller of the two rang the doorbell.

"Dr. Agasa?!" Rachel called after a moment of silence. Still no answer. She gave a grunt of frustration before pounding on the door itself. He duly noted the wood chips falling away as she knocked 'roughly' on the poor piece of wood. "**DR. AGASA!?**** ARE YOU THERE?!**"

"Whelp," he said cheerfully as he sauntered down the steps, "looks like he's not here. Too b-" He was cut short when one of the windows, in fact three, exploded out of their frames, flew a few feet, then smashed into a million pieces after colliding with the street. Seconds later a black blob poked out of one of the now empty window frames laughing nervously. The two at the door sweat dropped. _Crazy old nut, _he thought while shaking his head. _He'll never learn._

"Sorry about that, Rachel!" Dr. Agasa called as he wiped some of the soot from his face with his sleeve.

"Maybe you _should _stay with us…"

* * *

"So, Doc, what hair brained invention had the liberty of exploding in your face _this _time?" 

Jimmy Kudo, or a miniature version, sat infront of library window in his former house hold as he rummaging through the books lining the shelves behind the boy. "Ha ha ha, very funny Jimmy," he snapped back. Jimmy just smiled crookedly out the window. "If you must know," he continued, "it _was _for you." The detective perked up. "A new addition to your watch. The screen changes to a heat sensitive screen, allowing you to hunt down those slippery criminals, and to know when Rachel's hot on your scrawny little tail! Sometimes I amaze myself!" He gave a hearty laugh at his own brilliance, causing Jimmy to roll his eyes.

"Watch it, old man," the boy warned without moving his eyes from the window infront of him. "Don't let your head get too big."

"Voice of experience?" The comment might have been taken as sarcastic, but it was only full of concern. A moment of silence. "Do you want to talk about it, Jimmy?" he asked quietly, his hand resting on the boy's small shoulder.

"Rachel's…she's meeting someone today," Jimmy said slowly, his voice barely over a whisper. He understood instantly, but let his young friend continue, knowing that he needed to get it off his chest so to speak lest it fester into something far worse then concern. "I just don't want to lose her, Doc. She's the only reason I've come this far, and if I loose her to someone else, then what's the point, ya know?" Jimmy let out a sigh, his head propped boredly on his palm. "She says she loves me and that she'll wait for me, but what if I never get back to my normal state? She wont wait forever, Doc, and I'll be there to watch some other lucky bastard take her away from me forever."

"You…can't tell her, Jimmy," he said slowly, the taste of the words in his mouth bittersweet. The boy nodded.

"I know," Jimmy replied, his voice wavering on the verge of cracking. "I would never want to put her in that much danger. Better her move on and be happy then her be six feet under."

* * *

Serena tapped her foot impatiently. Where were they?! It was already thirty minutes past twelve, and they were supposed to meet at eleven. With a groan of irritation, the blonde returned to chewing on the end of the straw sticking out of her soft drink.  
  
_Bad sign_, she thought, eyeing her friend as she chewed restlessly on the thin tube of plastic next to her._ She only does that when she's uber pissed_. For a moment she thought about vouching on the behaves of their missing blind dates, but quickly remembered she never really wanted to go on one anyway. The worst she'd have to deal with if they didn't show at all was her friend's complaining, which she, after many years of it, had learned to block it out. She let out a low sigh before leaning back on the bench she and her friend were sharing to stare at the sky. The sun peeked around the fluffy clouds as they slowly moved across the heavens. Straining her memory to its last lengths, she tried to place the clouds to their respective names she had learned God knows how long ago. The only thing she could place was that if the clouds formed an anvil, it usually meant rain.  
  
_Great_, she thought bitterly. _Rain.__ That's the LAST thing I need._  
  
"Come on, Rachel!" Serena ordered, snapping her back into reality. Before she could protest, her friend grabbed her wrist and yanked her from the bench to the nearest ride. A quick 'whoa!' was all she could mutter before being pulled into the dark depths of the Fun House. "They're jerks and they aren't showing, so we'll just have fun without them!" 

Not two minutes into the dark corridors of the Fun House were the two of them pretty close to utterly lost. The lighting was poor, and she kept running face first into the mirrors lining the many hall ways. She and Serena were quickly separated as well. She tried calling her friend's name, but found that not only did the walls of the maze make it impossible to tell where someone was from sight, it also made it impossible to know from sound. The whole damn place echoed something fierce.

Then the lights decided to go out.

The two of them, along with any other poor unfortunate souls trapped in the hell maze screamed bloody murder.

Moments later thunder rumbled so loud around them, the glass she was leaning on shook under her. Within seconds, the electricity was back up and running, a slight flash of bright light before settling on its normal dull glow. Somewhere in the maze an intercom, no doubt located on every ride, fizzled into life before a bored sounding female voice rang through the echo prone walls. "_Due to the weather,_" the girl began over the static, "_the park will be closing early. Please locate the nearest exit and have a nice day._"

_Nice day, my butt_, she thought grimly as she looked around once again. _Where the heck is the frickin exit?!  
_

* * *

The rain pounded on the windows of the almost disserted house. He could remember plenty of evenings like this: he, all but alone, in his huge house with Dr. Agasa constantly pouring over his overly vast bookcase.  
  
But today was different. Rachel should have picked him up an hour ago with the weather this bad. Seeing as the Doc's house was 'no place fore a child', she would have known to come here instead.  
  
Still, his mind was open to all possibilities as usually, no matter how heart shattering they may be at the present.  
  
_Dinner and a movie with a pinch of necking in the back seat…_  
  
The PG rating was slipping fast as he let his imagination run away with him. Clinging to the slim hope she would save herself for him (he was such a pervert some times!), he returned to staring blankly down at the drive way as his not-so-helpful 'babysitter' rattled on endlessly about Lord knows what behind him. It took him a minute to realize he had been addressed. "Wha?" he asked, looking back at the Doc by leaning backwards in his chair.  
  
"I said, 'maybe we should call'," the upside-down Agasa repeated before returning to scanning the book shelves. "You'll hurt yourself sitting like that, Jimmy," he called absently. As if on cue, his balance dissipated, leaving him flailing to stay upright. Within seconds he was sprawled out over the chair back, muttering oaths as the 'good' Doctor strained to keep from giggling.  
  
Of course, this gave him an excuse to get up and use the phone. He was answered by Richard's slurred, "Hello?"  
  
"Hi, Richard," he said merrily. "Is Rachel there?"  
  
"Wasn't she supposed to pick you up on the way back from her date, or whatever?" the detective on the other end asked boredly, fighting back yawns.  
  
"Well, yeah…"  
  
"Is she there?"  
  
"No, but-"  
  
"The she's still out," Richard snapped. "Jeez, for such a smart kid, you sure are dense sometimes." The other line went dead, leaving him wondering why he had even bothered.  
  
"Stupid old man," he muttered bitterly to himself as he smashed the phone back into place. "Hey, Doc!" he called after a moment. A chubby bald head poked around the corner. "Can we take your car to look around?"  
  
"She's out, Jimmy," the Doctor reminded him in a tired tone. "No matter how much it bugs you, you have to realize she has moved o-"  
  
"It's not that!" he cut off quickly, not really wanting to hear the Doctor finish the rest. "It's _raining_, Doc! What if she was in an accident?" For a moment there was silence. He took this change to play his last trump card.  
  
The puppy-dog face.  
  
The Doctor wracked out a sigh, his shoulders hunched in defeat. Worked every time. He couldn't help a little victory dance as they mad they way out to the Doc's garage.  
  
A yellow Volkswagen Beatle greeted them. He had always thought the car suited the Doc. Strange and pleasant, with plenty of room to stretch. Climbing into the passenger's seat, he couldn't help but wonder if maybe he would be driving by now. He was close to getting his license before. Back when he was referred to as Jimmy Kudo. 

Yet again he had found another reason to hate this body. It kept him from doing so much.

IF only he had just blown off the men in black coats, life would be SO much easier. Hell, he and Rachel might have even been going steady by now. Him getting lucky was completely out of the question, of course, but that didn't keep him from thinking about it.

The look on her face if he ever told her they had already bathed together would be quite interesting as well. Then again, so would the trip to the hospital that would follow.

It took him a minute to register they had already cleared the drive way and were now cruising down the street and his seat belt wasn't even on. He quickly corrected that. Driving with the Doc was always exciting, as well as _ANYTHING_ you did with the man, so better safe then sorry.

It seemed tonight did him no favors.

They were slowly going faster and faster down the street. He simply chocked the speed up to the Doc's wacky way of driving. They'd slow down soon enough. It wasn't until they plowed through a busy intersection a minute later at an even higher speed did he realize something was terribly wrong.

The fact the Doc's eyes were shut tight only helped his gut wrenching theory.

Dr. Agasa had fallen asleep with his foot on the gas.

The worst part was he had watched the cause of this with his own two eyes.

The Doctor was know for having nights on end with no sleep, making whatever kind of other doctor or psychologist he went to very upset. As long as he could remember, Agasa had downed medication for such things. Tonight was no different.

Yet he knew about this. He **HAD** known about this, and was the one stupid enough to ask for a ride. Now they were speeding down the streets of Tokyo, the MPH reaching a dangerous sixty and still climbing.

**How could have been so stupid!?**

The honk of a oncoming car was the last bit of encouragement needed for him to push his tiny foot down hard on the brake. They automatically began to spin, the tires losing all traction on the wet pavement.

It was short lived.

As suddenly as it had started, it had come to an end. In their mad spin, the had collided with a street lamp. The collision sent his small body snapping around so violently, it seemed his head had smashed into the seat and the dash board at the same time. Within moments, his world had gone black.

* * *

She had no reason to be worried. 

There were so many explanations for why they didn't pick up.

He went home to dad.

The two of them went out to eat.

They didn't reach the phone in time.

There was no reason to be worried whatsoever.

Yet, as she fumbled with her keys in the pouring rain, she felt uneasy.

After it started to pour, she and Serena had sought shelter in a local diner. Dripping all over the seats, it didn't take long to strike up a conversation, of course centered on their unexciting dates. Before she had known it, it was half after nine. Stuffing the rest of her greasy French-fries down her throat, she had raced to the nearest pay phone to call the Doc. She would tell him she was on her way and there was no reason to worry.

There had been no answer.

So here she was now, so queasy she couldn't remember which key unlocked her own house door.

The soft _pitter-patter_ of feet running through the rain surprised her so much, she dropped her keys. She looked towards the sound to see little Conan Edogawa rushing up to her-

-blood running down the side of his face.

"Conan!" she cried as he rushed into her arms breathing heavily. After a moment he got his bearing and could form a complete sentence.

"You've gotta help me!" he choked out, his little hand trying to drag her in the direction he had come.

"Why?" she asked, almost scared to know what would make him this upset. He pulled again and this time she followed.

"Car accident!" he huffed as they ran. "There's a man still stuck in the wreckage! He might die if we don't get there soon!"

"That's terrible!" she gasped, picking up speed to were she was dragging him instead of the other way around.

"I'm so glad I found you, Lady," Conan wheezed out. "I was starting to think this part of the city was disserted or something!" She skid to a stop.

_What did he just call me?_

**_Lady?!_****__**

"Why are you stopping?!" he screamed before tugging at her arm again. "Come on!" he whined as she stared down at him in shock. Same glasses, same bow tie, same clothes. Everything was Conan, even if he was covered in blood and dirt. "You're the only other human being I've seen all night!" he pleaded. After a moment he gave up on trying to pull her and instead tried to get out her iron grip. "If you're not gonna help me, Lady, then let go and I'll find someone who will!"

* * *

Blu: PLEASE don't hurt me for the thing with Agasa and the sleeping pills. I know that doesn't happen in the show, but I kinda needed it for the whole plot and stoof. I know Jimmy looks like an idiot for forgetting about it, and that's not what I wanted to do at all. Lets just say he was concerned over Rachel and forgot? Just no flames, pwease. 

If you do have a complaint, or just like hurting harmless muses, please feel free to take it out on my muse, TK. Only throw shoes, please.


	2. Sweet Dreams

Blu: O.O

TK: O…mi…god. You got nineteen reviews for only one chapter.

Blu: I…I know. I'm speechless!

TK: how can you thank your reviewers if your speechless?

Blu: …just shut up, ok?

Elhustino- …NO! I DIDN'T THINK YOU'D REVIEW THIS! –tackle hugs- Thanks again for beta reading this chapter! You're a life saver as always!

Totalconanfanatic- hee, nice screen name! I'll make sure to read your story after I get my ass in gear and read all the other stoof I need to!

Ooshii Kurai- I'm glad you like the idea! I kinda thought it was a little cliché myself. You're right, all the trauma would make him pass out, but that's not in this chapter. I kinda skip over that XD –is so lazy XD-

Inuyasha282808- Yeah, they do suck, but I don't know the other ones well enough to do them justice, and the last thing I want is to put this wonderful anime to shame!

YumeTakato- …what the hell does that mean?! –is so lost XD- I need to learn Japanese so bad! –sob- XD

InuBuggy- I don't mind if you say the same stoof over and over, I still love seeing your reviews!

Enula- I'm glad you took the chance to read this! I know it's really cliché, but I hope mine will be worth it all the way thru! I await another review from you XD

Nava- …umm…what?

Moondragon-1001- Updated my friend XD

Kyllir- your order, ma'am XD

Magnet-Rose- we all get lazy sometimes! –hugs- thankies for reading XD

Inaika- yupp! MWHAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm ever so evil!

Fireblazie- Your wait is over, my friend. Please enjoy another installment!

Mandi-Solo- wow, you put me in the same category as the show! I'm honored XD Thankies much for your review! All the exclamation points XD

Cry my eyes out- umm…erm…HERE! –gives you a box of Kleenex- SORRY I MADE YOU CRY!

Wolf-woman54- …ed heehee

Strawbeby- eek! I would never stop this! Hustino-kun and Magnet-Rose-chan and Emily-chan would thrash my ass! I'm sorry you don't like cliff-hangers, caz you might just hate me, caz I like leaving a lot of them XD

StunGun Millie- I UPDATED! I UPDATED! DON'T USE YOUR STUN GUN ME FOR THE LOVE OF WOLFWOOD! –gives you a peace offering of pudding-

Firehedgehog- Uncliffhangereded and updated XD

Blu: wow! Over a page! You guys rock my socks! Thankies much!

Read, Review, and Wait, the three thing that happen on this site!

* * *

**Chapter One: Sweet Dreams**

* * *

He had always hated hospitals.  
  
Sure, there was the fact that he was scared to death of needles, but it was more than that.  
  
He couldn't help anyone there. Everyone was already out of his reach.  
  
To be perfectly honest, it made him feel small. He hated feeling small. Not only that, but he never liked to wait like this. He was a get-up-and-go kind of guy, always had been, and waiting like this for an answer was unbearable.

That's also probably the reason he never solved his cases. He had always jumped the gun and usually ended up eating the bullet.

And then this had to go and happen.  
  
How the hell was he going to pay the medical bills?  
  
The kid's parents were already in the hospital themselves, now so was their son.  
  
_What the hell is it with this family and accidents, anyway?!_ He thought, letting out a long sigh. It had been a long night for everyone.  
  
Mainly Rachel.  
  
Poor girl had come home a mess. She was soaked to the bone. The second he had opened the door, Rachel had thrown herself into his arms, sobbing.  
  
That led to here, the waiting room of Shonan Kamakura Hospital. To tell you the truth, this was as sober as he had been in months. Rachel had been very vague—mainly from the stress—on what had happened, but one point had come across crystal clear.  
  
Something was wrong with Conan.  
  
Sure, he had heard that millions of times. The freaking kid had a knack for not only pissing him off, but for getting himself into ah ass load of trouble, and, luckily for him, the two usually came hand in hand. The look on Rachel's face, however, completely dispelled any thoughts of sprained ankles or skinned knees.  
  
If his daughter was that upset, the boy was in some deep trouble.  
  
So now they were waiting, but for what? an answer maybe? a reason not to worry? He really couldn't say.  
  
So he waited.  
  
And he waited.  
  
And he waited.  
  
"Mr. Moore?"  
  
Two heads shot up. "Is he okay!?" both he and his daughter asked at once. A worn-out looking nurse smiled before giving a reassuring nod.  
  
"Follow me," she said simply. He rose quickly, Rachel clinging to his arm, and followed her down one the hallways. The white washed walls of the corridors sped by as they walked hurriedly through them. The nurse stopped outside one of the many wards. "He's sleeping," she said quietly. "He needs his rest, so try not to wake him." The nurse eased one of the doors open before continuing. "The doctor will be with you shortly." She gave a slight bow, which he returned, and trotted down another hall.  
  
On entering the fairly large room, he began scanning the beds for the kid. All of the cots were empty, save the last one on the left.  
  
There slept Conan Edogawa. 

Rachel got to him first. Biting back a sigh of relief, he walked casually to her side, his hands in his pockets. Rachel ran her hands through the boy's hair as he slept, a thankful smile spread across her face. "Thank God," she whispered before bending down to kiss the boy on the forehead. He could feel himself smiling. It was as if watching his daughter take care of her own son, not some random kid who practically came out of thin air.

Everything was finally okay.

"Mr. …Moore, is it?"

Jumping slightly, he turned on his heels to see a young doctor, probably in his late twenties—early thirties, leaning on the footboard of the bed behind him, a extremely full looking clipboard in his hands. "Dr. Teiboku Onistu," the young man said, offering him his only free hand. He forced a smile and shook the hand a few times.

"Richard Moore," he replied, trying to sound somewhat pleasant. The doctor's eyes widened.

"_THE_ Richard Moore?" Dr. Teiboku asked, slightly louder then he should have. Rachel, finally noticing the doctor's presence in the room, shot him a death glare before motioning for the young man to be a little quieter. "Oops," he said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "My bad."

He rolled his eyes. What a whack-job. Looking back over to his daughter, he found that Teiboku had moved from the footboard to over by Rachel, who was watching the sleeping Conan like a hawk.

"You know him, don't you?" Teiboku asked, leaning to look at the boy over Rachel's shoulder. She nodded slowly.

"He's…my little brother," she choked out. "He's like my little brother, I mean." She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "There's no blood relation."

_About to say…_he thought, leaning on the headboard next to the other two.

"What exactly happened?" Dr. Teiboku asked.

"He…he didn't remember me!" Rachel blurted out, her eyes snapping back up to meet the doctor's, her voice close to shouting. Catching herself, her hand shot to her mouth. After a moment of getting herself back under control, his daughter continued. "He ran up to me, his forehead bleeding, and told me there had been a car wreck," she explained, not meeting Teiboku's gaze. "He said that we had to hurry…" Tears formed in her eyes. "Then he said 'I'm glad I found you, Lady', like we had never met before in our lives." Her voice quivered as her face whipped up to look at the doctor's. "What's wrong with Conan?!" she demanded, again being quite loud. Rachel shrunk back, realizing what she had just done. He saw his opening and took this time to wrap his arms around his little girl, giving her some comfort.

"His name is Conan?" the doctor asked after a moment.

"Yes."

"Well," Teiboku sighed, running a hand through his short brown hair, "let's go on a walk." He cocked his eyebrow in question.

"A what?" he asked.

"A walk," the young doctor repeated. "I always take my patents on walks when I give them _The News_."

The eyebrow went higher. Rachel glared.

"It sounded funnier in my head."

* * *

"Amnesia?" she asked, her voice shaky.

"Yupp," Dr. Teiboku said as he leaned on large windowsill. The rain was still pouring, matting the long string of windows of the hallway with water. "From what you've told me, I'm guessing he was with his uncle, Dr. Agasa or whatever, when the car hit the street light." The doctor started flipping through the papers on his clipboard. "We ran some tests and found that guy had taken some sleeping medication earlier this evening-"

"That's right!" she blurted out. Both of the men looked at her, eyebrows shot high. "I mean, Dr. Agasa always took those. He has to or else he wont get any sleep."

"…Right," Teiboku said, returning to the clipboard. "Anywho, Conan, as you call him, probably smashed his head into the dash board in the collision, giving him a concussion." Digging through his papers again, the young doctor pulled out an x-ray, handing it to her. "You see the spot circled?" he asked, his finger pointing to a large spot of white on the top half of the paper. "That's the frontal lobe, more importantly, the temporal lobe," the doctor explained. "All that white," he circled the spot with his index finger, "is blood."

Her heart skipped.

"The collision bounced the brain around so much, it damaged the frontal lobe, causing blood to pool in the brain," Teiboku continued, backing up by the window. "He'll be fine, but because of his concussion, he now has what is called retrograde amnesia."

"Retro-what now?" her father asked, obviously lost.

"Fancy talk for long-term memory lost," Dr. Teiboku explained. "He basically can no longer access any of his long-term memories, which is basically anything that happened to him before the crash. He can make new ones, he just can't find old ones."

"So…he'll never remember me again?" she asked.

"Naw, the whole thing is temporary," Teiboku said with a smile as he returned to leaning on the windowsill. "He'll get his older memories back first, then the more recent until everything is back into place. My suggestion to you is to just keep in the usual routine, like everything is perfectly normal, and he should be back to his old self in no time flat."

* * *

His head hurt.

A lot.

It wasn't like mind blowing pain. He would know.

Something told him he had felt that before.

It was the kind of dull pain you get from an old bruise that just wont go away.

Where was he, anyway?

His mind strained to remember what led to him being here.

Nothing.

What happened that put him here? Where was _here_?

_Who was **he**?_

Nothing was making any sense. His pressed his fingers to his temple, in hopes to clear his head some how, but drew them back when pain shot through his skull.

"I see you're up," a voice said calmly above him. Slowly he opened his eyes to see a young man—probably around his late twenties—smiling down at him.

"Where am I?" he asked weakly. His throat felt raw, like he had been screaming on the top of his lungs.

"You're in ward room seven in the east wing of the Shonan Kamakura Hospital in Tokyo, Japan," the man said with a grin. He gave him a puzzled look. "I know, more information than you needed, right? Well," he sat up slightly, looking through something in his lap, "better get used to it, Conan."

"Conan…" he repeated, turning his head towards the ceiling. "Is…is that my name?"

"Yup," the man replied. Slowly, he turned back to find him still flipping though whatever he had laying in his lap. "And I am…" his visitor seemed a little distracted by the papers, "Dr. Teiboku Onistu."

"So…" he looked back at the tiles above him, "why am I here?"

"An accident."

"What's wrong with me?"

"Well, what _is _wrong with you?"

"I…don't remember anything…"

"Bingo." He turned back to see the doctor smiling again. "You've got amnesia kid, but you'll be fine."

"What time is it?" he asked after a moment.

"Five nineteen AM," Teiboku said after glancing at his watch. "You've been asleep for about…say seven hours. I suggest you try to go back to sleep." He nodded and closed his eyes.

_This better all make sense when I wake up._

* * *

Blu: So, lets see a show of hands, how many people liked the doctor? Hopefully all, caz he's gonna be in most of the fic XD

TK: -cough- GARY-STU –cough-

Blu: SHUT UP!


	3. Warm Welcome

Blu: HOLY F- 

TK: BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP

Blu: …you ruin all my fun. Anywho –clears throat- HOLY CRAP THAT'S A LOT OF REVIEWS! Twenty three from the last chapter! I'M SPEECHLESS!

TK: …I truly doubt that…

Blu: SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG, EVERYONE! Stupid site desided it wanted to freeze my account randomly XD I'll be good from now on! Promise!

Also, I've finally been able to watch a little of Case Closed, or should I say Detective Conan, in Japanese! My only comment: SHINICHI'S A FREAKIN FEMALE! -shudder- still hot once you get far enough into it...but...-twitch- MY BISHI'S A WOMAN! -twitch-

TK: ...just thank the stupid reviewers...

Blu: -smacks TK over the head with her sketchers-

_**Review Responses:**_

El Hustino- Who's being a little baka now? OF COURSE I WANT YOU AS MY BETA READER SILLY! Other then Kenny, you're the only person I'd trust my stories to –huggles- Thankies again for all your help! It really means so much!

PRIVATE- Tis great you think tis great because great is great and…now I'm all dizzy –falls over-

Firehedgehog- pressed and dried for your reading pleasure! Enjoy my friend

Mariko- …WHOO WHOO! Heehee! That's fun –nods-

Mandi-Solo- THANK YOU FOR BEING THE ONLY ONE TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS! –gives you a peanut butter cookie and some pocky- MY PRIZED READER! Give yourself a round of applause! You deserve it for ACTUALLY READING MY AUTHOR NOTES –glares at everyone else-

YumeTakato- Oh! That makes sense…in that case, I DON'T WANNA DIE! I WANT TO LIVE! THERE ARE YET SO MANY THINGS TO BE DONE! SO MANY FICS TO WRITE! SO MANY SUES TO BASH! SO MANY—yeah, I'm done now XD enjoy!

Shukuen- Tis not chat format, my friend. Tis just my author's note and Reviewer thanking section! I have to thank you guys for all of your wonderful reviews SOME HOW, AND I've found that if I do this, more people review! I just wanna give you something to laugh about if the chapter turns out to be something really dark or depressing. Plus it lets me get my silly out XD

Ewz- …what in the what now? I DON'T KNOW! God, I hope I didn't just screw up my whole story! …lets just go with…maybe?

Shadow Fox- -bows- tis a pleasure to please one of my own! I am glad I've done so well so far! …lets just hope I can keep it up…

StunGun Millie- hee, true, true. Sadly, I can not have pudding. Doesn't stop me for _trying _mind you, but I can never finish it XD –can't have too much milk or stoof happens to her throat- so yeah, here –hands you a half finished package of pudding- enjoy while you read

Kyllir- hee, I'm glad you liked the doc so much! He's going to be in thru out the fic so I hope you wont get bored of him

Silver Sky Magician- …I got an awesome…I GOT AN AWESOME! –does a little happy dance- I'm so happy! Thankies for reviewing!

Fireblazie- responses to your comments in order:  
Glad you like it so far  
I was hoping he would be  
…okay as in 'cool' or okay as in 'uhh…yeah'?  
No longer do you have to wait  
And yes…no…possibly…maybe…I donno

JOSH- …do I know you? I think you might go to my school…JOSH! HI! How have you been?! Tis me! Remember?! I'm the freak with the sketch book? No? –shrugs- different Josh then XD

Song-Obsessed1- Umm…uh…deep breaths! That's it! Calm down! See? I posted the next chapter! No need to…erm…die eh heh….yeah…

InuBuggy- hee, glad you like it,

AbisainBlood- …Rachel's fault? What'd she do? …ah well, she's a anyhow…wait! I know you from somewhere! Didn't you review another one of my stories? Ack, I can't remember!

Enula- Rachel isn't all that hard to do. Now Richard on the other hand –looooooong sigh- EVIL

True-Slytherin-gurl- ...five words…wow. Sadly, the record so far is two words, set by Emily Alden herself, but here –hands you a peanut butter cookie- take this anyways

Kagome Fan1- hee, I'm sorry, but you're wrong about Shinichi's name XD Shinichi or Shin'ichi means 'son of Shin', but the Kudo part you might be right about. I donno so don't listen to me XD

Kitsune-firedragon- Welcome, fellow fox! You're in good hands! From what I've seen, the DC section is very caring towards their n00bs –is one herself XD-

Jet-1- hee. If I took a decade to write something, Hustino-kun would kick my sorry arse XD Umm...who's the one who talks with quoteation marks? A friend of your's? Your muse? I'm kinda confused here XD HELP A DEMON OUT HERE!

Blu: Two whole pages! WOW! YOU GUYS TOTALLY ROCK MY SOCKS!

* * *

**Chapter Two: Warm Welcome**

* * *

Five fifty-nine AM. 

One minute and his shift would be over, then it would be time for a nice little nap. The kid had fallen asleep not too long ago, so he wouldn't be needing anything for another couple hours, and him being called to watch over another patient in the next…fifty two seconds was highly improbable.

He was basically in the clear.

He glanced at his watch, silently cursing it for being so slow. He just wanted his work day to be over and done with, not that he didn't like his job of course. He just hadn't had any sleep in…forever, and his body was having a hissy-fit over it. The millisecond his shift was over, he'd lean back and get some well needed shut eye.

He let out a sigh.

What a boring day. Just one minor case after another. The normal broken bones, a few surgeries; nothing special, besides of course his newest patient.

When was the last time he had dealt with an amnesia patient, anyways? He had heard very little about them in medical school, seeing as they weren't as common as one would think. He was taught, of course, the basics (how to treat it, the signs of such a case, the cause, what to do and not to do, blahity blah blah), but that was about it. He had only had, what? Two, including this kid?

Why'd those stupid sitcoms have to make it look like amnesia was such a common thing?

…twenty-two seconds and counting.

He glanced at the boy in the bed out of the corner of his eye. A strange case indeed. He knew so little about this kid. He had, of course, seen the file on him, but it was so incomplete the only information listed was the trivial things such as name, height, weight, so on and so forth.

It bugged him that he knew so little about him. Even his guardians admitted to not knowing much about the boy's past.

So he did some digging.

A little snooping never did anyone any harm. Besides, he had nothing better to do.

The only problem was Conan Edogawa didn't seem to frickin exist! He checked high and low through the hospital records for some medical records on him, even his parents, but came up empty every time.

Nothing whatsoever. Not even the hospital databanks had him listed.

Getting desperate, he had even looked up the boy's uncle in hopes in finding _something_, but the man was no better! Only a few minor heart complications, normal for a man Agasa's height and weight, and that was it.

He was starting to believe maybe this kid really _didn't _exist…that his lack of sleep was making him go bonkers.

His wrist-watch beeped, signaling the end of is shift. He let out a long yawn, stretching his arms stiffly before slumping lazily in his chair.

"Nappy-time!"

* * *

_Too early._

He bit back a yawn. **_Way _**_too early,_ he thought sleepily to himself as he pulled into the hospital parking lot.

Lord knows neither of them got any sleep last night. Well, he got a little bit, but Rachel…

Rachel had stayed up all night camped out next to the phone waiting for that no good Jimmy Kudo to call. God, he _hated _that kid. Kudo reminded him _way _too much of himself at that age. Always off looking for an adventure, leaving the person he loved cooped up at home.

Worst of all, the brat had to pick _his _daughter's heart to break.

_When he got his hands on that kid…_

It didn't matter how many times he had told Rach to give up on that kid. She'd just turn those heart filled blue eyes she could have only gotten from her mother on him, and he'd melt.

Damn Eva. Damn her to hell and back.

And damn those karate lessons too.

If he hadn't passed that onto her, maybe he'd get a word in edgewise for once.

Like this morning, for instance. He had been pretty sure he'd get to sleep at least to noon, seeing as it was Sunday, but his daughter had a different plan completely.

Check up on Conan.

He had argued that the kid would be fine. He had walked away from a car wreck for Pete's sake.

But _nooooo_.**__**

Rachel had _insisted_. He _hated _how she _insisted_. Third desk she had _insisted_that month.

And so here he was now, seven something in the morning after about three hours of sleep and no coffee. Damn, he wished they hadn't been out of coffee.

He put the car into park and turned to look at his daughter. She was staring straight out ahead of her, her eyes infixed on something he couldn't see. "He'll be alright, Rach," he said as he placed his hand on her shoulder, trying to sound reassuring. She nodded and unhooked her seat belt. Removing the keys from the ignitions, he did the same.

* * *

Her shift was over. 

_OVER DAMMIT! _

She should be home sleeping right now, not waiting on someone else's patients, let alone that bum's, Onistu's.

Why'd she always let him talk her into doing things like this, anyways? He was just too lazy to wait for his own damn patients to come. She should've just made him get off his lazy butt for once.

Lazy, lazy, _lazy_.

She flipped through a few of the papers on the clipboard she had stolen from Onistu when he wasn't looking. Hey, it wasn't like he was going to use them!

_Name, Edogawa, Conan… _she thought as she read. _Who names their kid 'Conan'?_ She shrugged it off. _Must be from over seas or something. _Her eyes darted down the page, skimming over the few lines actually filled in. __

An incomplete record, as usual.

_Yup, _she thought, shaking her head. _This has to be one of Onistu's files. _

"Umm, excuse me?"

She looked up to see a young woman, around seventeen or so, staring down at her. The young woman glanced at the name tag pinned near her collar before reading it out loud in a low, "Toki Aneki?" She nodded. "Do you know a doctor by the name of Teibo-"

"You're Rachel, am I right?" she asked, interrupting the visitor mid sentence. Some what surprised, the teenager nodded. Smiling, she stood. "Yeah, Onistu has been waiting for you and your father." The young woman's face brightened slightly. "If you follow me, I'll lead you to the ward." The teenager, Rachel, nodded quickly before calling an older man, around his early forties, over. The man, whom she was pretty sure was the _great _Richard Moore, towered above her. _Stupid height, _she thought grimly to herself as she bowed slightly to the man. He did the same before she began to lead the pair down the hallways.

The three of them were silent as they walked down the corridors. Still early in the morning, the hospital was bare other then for a hand full of doctors and nurses and their patients. She had become used to the quiet morning hours, although she preferred the night shift herself. It had always been an uncomfortable silence to her even after years and years of it.

"So, you're the _Great _Detective Richard Moore, are you?" she asked the man walking behind her, her gaze infixed on where she was going instead of the two she was leading.

"You've heard of me, have you?" Moore asked her, sounding quite full of himself. She rolled her eyes.

"My husband's a fan," she replied boredly, "but I personally think you're just a fraud." The detective's head deflated while his daughter let out a small giggle. "Now, that Jimmy Kudo-"

"-Was nothing but a kid on a lucky streak." Moore interrupted. "He could _never _hold a candle to the Great Detective Richard Moore."

"And that's why you didn't get a case for months, right dad?" Rachel asked, her tone a mix of embarrassment and irritation.

"You hush."

She smiled. Silence gone.

"We're here," she announced. The pair stopped their bickering. "Keep your voices down," she instructed, "he's no doubt asleep." Opening one of the double doors, she ushered the two in before entering herself. "Dr. Teiboku will be with you-" she looked towards the boy's bed and her face fell, "-shortly."

Teiboku Onistu, supposedly a renowned doctor around the hospital, laid sprawled out in his chair, his feet propped up on another chair across from him. A beat up looking old manga, which she had seen him with on many occasions, sat balanced on his nose, shielding his eyes from the overhead florescent lights.

She let a groan and stormed over to the other doctor. "Get up!" she barked, ripping the manga off his face. He stirred slightly, but didn't get up. "Get **up**!!" she repeated sharply, yanking the chair out from under him. He awoke completely mid fall and uttered a startled yelp before hitting the ground.

"Whoa! What?! What happened?! What's going on?!" Onistu demanded, staring around in shock. His eyes landed on her feet, one of which was tapping impatiently on the floor, before moving up to her face. "Oh," he said shyly as he stared up at her, "it's only you, Aki(1)."

"Don't you _'Aki'_ me! What the _Hell _is wrong with you, Onistu?!" she demanded, yanking him up by the collar of his shirt. "You're in all but empty ward room, beds lining _every _wall, and **_you_**," she smacked him over the head with the manga, "take your nap in a _chair_." She let go of him. "And you wonder why your back hurts in the morning."

"Ow," Onistu whined, rubbing his head. "You'll give me a concussion, Aneki!"

"I wish," she spat back. "Your head is as hard as concrete and three times as thick! You could get run over by a semi and live to complain about how reckless they were driving!" Rolling her eyes, she roughly threw the comic book into Onistu's gut and stormed over to where the Moores stood staring on with huge sweat drops dripping from their foreheads. "I'm guessing you two could use some coffee, am I right?" she asked them in a sweet tone. They nodded quickly. "Thought so." She bowed. "I'll go get us all some; my shifts over anyways."

* * *

"So, you two are married?" 

The two doctors before her nodded. "Only a few months, so they haven't gotten a new tag made for me," Aneki explained after sipping her coffee. "Besides, who would want to walk around with _this _block head's name pinned to their chest?" The female doctor smacked her husband's shoulder playfully, laughing to herself. Teiboku glared. "Cool it, I'm kidding."

She smiled. It was nice to have such friendly people to talk to right now. She needed the humor.

"So…how's he doing?" she asked after a moment of silence had passed.

"He woke up around five-twenty this morning and I filled him in a little on where he was and what had happened," Teiboku answered. "He'll probably wake up in another couple of hours. Then, after a few more tests, you can take him home." She let out a sigh of relief. "I'll need him to come back here for a check-up at least once a week or so, just for paperwork and such. You're, of course, welcome to stay here until he wakes up."

"Well, I've had my coffee, so I really don't care," her dad said cheerfully. Everyone chuckled lightly.

"Are you sure they don't mind us just hanging around in the ward room?" she asked.

"Naw," Aneki replied, waving the idea off. "Ward seven is only used if all the other wards are packed. Besides, it's perfectly normal for family members to hang around during visiting hours."

"And what about Dr. Agasa?" she asked. Once again, Teiboku produced his overflowing clip board.

"He's in a coma," the doctor explained, scanning some of his papers. "Serious head trauma, including the damaging of the frontal lobe and minor damage to the temporal lobe. He has a broken arm as well and slight burns on the legs." He looked up from his papers. "Most of that will be healed before he regains consciousness."

"So, he'll wake up?"

"Despite what it may seem, this Agasa guy got off pretty easy," Dr. Aneki cut in, looking over her husband's notes. "He'll be in the coma for most of the healing process and after recovering, he should have no further complications."

"Besides," Teiboku finished. "Most people suffering from comas end up with much more damage done to the brain. He'll probably be out of the coma in a few weeks to a month, tops."

* * *

Setting her purse on the floor, she made herself comfy in the chair near Conan's hospital bed. She was probably in for a long wait, but she didn't mind. Digging in her purse from where she sat, she pulled out a pocket-sized booklet and a pencil and flipped to the last page. 

Crosswords, her favorite.

"One down…two words…" she mumbled while reading the clue. Her eyebrows drooped in concentration as she worked down the page. It was a somewhat challenging crossword, but it took her less than twenty minutes to finish. She checked her answers before putting the booklet away with a long sigh. Now she had nothing to do. "Why didn't I bring something else to work on?" she asked the almost empty ward room. "Lord knows I could do my homework for once!" She waited a moment for an answer before picking up her purse and starting to dig through it.

Gum, some crumpled bills, loose change, gum, broken key chain, _gum_, ballpoint pen, _more gum_…

Why did she have so much gum, anyways?

She doesn't even chew gum all that often.

She shrugged it off before unwrapping a piece and popping it into her mouth. It was probably the closest thing she'd be getting to breakfast anyways.

Besides the coffee of course.

"Knock, knock."

She jumped. Looking up, she saw the smiling face of Dr. Teiboku Aneki leaning on the doorframe of the ward room, an apple bouncing up and down in her hands. "I brought you some breakfast," the doctor called, moving from the doorway over to her. "Here, catch." Tossing the fruit to her, Aneki pulled up a chair and sat next to her. "Thought you might be hungry," she explained, pulling her own apple out of her pocket and taking a bite out of it. Fishing the wrapper back out of her purse, she placed her gum back onto it and wadded it up before chucking it into the trash can between the beds.

"Thanks," she said sheepishly. _Such kind people…_ "Are you this nice to all of your patients?"

"Depends if I like 'em or not," Aneki replied, chewing on her bite of apple. "And whether Onistu likes 'em." The doctor swallowed and smiled at her. "He seemed to think it was really sweet how much you cared for that kid," Aneki jabbed a thumb at Conan, "and not too many people can do that."

Her thoughts drifted towards her Jimmy as the doctor when on and on about her husband. Jimmy could be sensitive…when he wanted to be. When he wasn't goggling over his fan letters or ranting about Sherlock Holmes, he was sweet and kind and would help anyone in the world if given the chance…

"…Yeah, Onistu's a real softy for sentimental crap like that," Aneki went on, pulling her hair out of its loose bun. "You say the right words and the guy will bawl, swear to God."

Who was Jimmy helping now, she wondered. Was it some random teenager? Did he fall in love with someone else and leave her?

Wait, what was she thinking? They weren't even an item to begin with! That stupid detective geek could go off and find whomever he wanted. GOOD RIDDANCE!

"…oh, and, to top it off, the man's _obsessed _with anything mystery! He's a detective geek, I swear!"

Those two words brought her back to reality. "Detective…geek?" she asked slowly.

"Oh God yes!" Aneki sighed. "He never shuts up about Arthur whatever Doyle too! I even tried reading that, but I didn't get it whatsoever. English is just too complicated." She couldn't help but laugh.

"He sounds so much like Jimmy!" she exclaimed. The doctor stopped her ramble.

"Jimmy?" Aneki asked, intrigued. "You wouldn't mean Jimmy Kudo, would you?" She nodded slowly. "Wow! Cool! What, are you two like boyfriend/girlfriend or something?"

"Umm…we…"

"I knew it!" the doctor exclaimed excitedly. "You two ARE a couple! What's it like dating _the _Jimmy Kudo."

"From what I've heard, its no different then being married to Teiboku Onistu," she replied bluntly. Aneki's shoulders sagged.

"Oh…damn, I'm sorry," the doctor said in fake pity. "Is he _really _that bad?"

Her face fell and she felt herself glaring off into space, "He can be stupid and self-absorbed and—"

"—mule headed—" Aneki cut in, finishing her sentence for her. She smiled.

"—and a conceded jerk and—"

"—and just too cute when he's embarrassed."

She sighed. "Yeah…" Taking out their apples, the two women leaned on each other's shoulders before biting into their breakfast.

"Men really suck some times."

"Amen to that."

* * *

The dull pain was back. 

This time he knew better then to move. Instead, he listened to the conversation going on somewhere around him. Two low voices, women voices, were talking somewhere next to him. One, which he was more then sure he had heard somewhere before, was chatting happily while the other one mostly listened. He didn't try to pick out words. He was still too tired.

A strong scent suddenly filled his nostrils. _Iodine…_he thought weakly. _That's iodine…_

His eyes fluttered before slowly opening. The females' conversation came to a screeching halt.

"You're up!" the familiar voice exclaimed. Suddenly two beautiful blue eyes were looking down at him in great concern. "Oh thank God, Conan!" the face connected to the eyes said as two arms wrapped around his body. His heart did a summersault with joy.

Why the heck was _it _so happy?

Strong strawberry perfume flooded his senses. Well, _she _didn't have the iodine on her. It must be…

"You're finally up, are you?" the other voice asked. It was lower, older. A woman in her late twenties came into his view and stared down at him, an apple in her hand. The arm, exposed from the way the sleeve loosely fit around it, was discolored in places.

He knew it! Iodine.

"You have…iodine on your arm," he pointed out weakly. The woman, a doctor he guessed, glanced at her arm and swore.

"And so I do," she said grimly. "Damn Onistu and his terrible habit of surprising me when I'm putting breakable things away! …wait," the doctor turned back down to him, "how did you know it was iodine and not something else?"

"The smell," he replied plainly as the other woman released him from her grip and sat on the side of his bed. "And your arm is discolored from the chemicals." The familiar one's smile widened.

"You _are _Conan!"

* * *

Blu: Holy…ELEVEN PAGES! ELEVEN! JEEZ-UM CROW! 

TK: calm down

Blu: ...fine, ruin my fun as always

TK: -sweat drop-

Blu: Umm...I kinda need your guy's help, mainly the peeps who have seen the whole show in japanese. What is Conan's teacher's name? I kinda need to know for...reasons. If you know, paleeeeeeeeeeeease include it in either your review (hint hint) or in an email to BluFox848 -insert at symbol thingy- aol . com. Danke much!

* * *

(1)Aki: Japanese for autumn 


	4. Deja vu Sucks

Blu: You all must hate me SO much! XD

TK: well, they shouldn't

Blu: Why?

TK: Because you came back with a freaking long chapter

Blu: oh…that too. But still, I'm _really _sorry to have taken so long to update. I was really scared I wouldn't be able to keep the characters in…well, character caz recently I gave all my DC tapes to a friend and up until Christmas, I had no DC outlet other then fanfics, which isn't always too accurate.

Anywho, like TK said, this is a FREAKING long chapter, twenty full pages, in fact! –is very proud of herself- Plus, much more Conan and some…well, not really, but KINDA some fluff!

Oh! I also took your advice, Southpaw, and put the reviewer responses at the end of the chapter! Thankies again!

Read, Review, and Wait, the three things that happen on this site.

-----

**Chapter Three: Déjà vu sucks**

-----

"This might feel a little cold."

He jumped slightly as the doctor pressed the cold metal to the bare skin of his chest. "Ok, Conan," Dr. Teiboku told him slowly, adjusting the ear knobs of his stethoscope with his free hand, "I want you to take a deep breath in through your mouth and then let it out your nose, okay?" He nodded and did as he was told. "Good Conan," the doctor whispered, moving the bell of his instrument closer to his heart. "Again."

In…Out…

A sudden sharp pain shot across his chest. He let out a stunned gasp, making the doctor pull away slightly in surprise. His hand shot to his chest where the pain still was. "What's wrong?" Teiboku asked.

"My chest—really hurts all of the sudden," he replied just as the pain dulled.

"Is it a burning pain or a sharp pain?"

"Sharp," he said, a little surprised and confused by the question. The doctor nodded.

"Thought so," Teiboku stated as he leaned over to the clipboard sitting on the desk beside him to jot something down. "Your ribs are probably a little bruised, that's all." He nodded as if he understood, which in a way he did.

He had noticed before, when he was first asked to take off the hospital robe he was wearing so the doctor could begin his check up, that his body was a bit beat up. He had small cuts and bruises on his arms and legs that he vaguely remembered getting from when he crawled out of the broken window of that strange car. A clean white bandage was wrapped around his forehead, clumps of his dark brown hair poking out in places where the cloth overlapped. Apparently, he had hit his head at some point, which would explain why it hurt to touch his forehead. He had been told that he had been in a car accident, supposedly the one he had reported to that woman himself, and that's why he couldn't remember anything. From all the evidence he had been given, he was starting to believe that's just what had happened.

He did, that was, until everyone started calling him 'Conan'.

He didn't know why, but he just didn't feel that was his name. It was familiar, but not in the way his own name should be. He, then again, had no reason to believe it _wasn't _his name. He couldn't remember squat to begin with, so who was to say that his name _wasn't _Conan Edogawa? He certainly couldn't.

But still—

"Well, I think we're done here."

His head snapped up to look at Dr. Teiboku as he removed the stethoscope from around his neck and wrapped it around his free hand. Under the doctor's arm was his ever apparent clip board, a pen dangling from a worn looking piece of yarn taped to the back of it. "I'll leave you while you get changed and then you are free to go," Teiboku told him brightly. He blinked before slowly looking around the small room he had been moved into.

"Change into what?" he asked. The smile slowly dropped from the young doctor's face as he no doubt tried to think up a solution to that problem.

"I have clothes for you, Conan!"

Both he and Teiboku turned to the door as the knob turned to reveal Ms. Familiar, a bundle of clothing in her arms.

He _really _needed to learn her name sometime soon.

This feeling of déjà vu was getting really old, _really _fast.

Why did he get the feeling it was just going to get worse?

His eyes widened. _Oh crap! _He looked down to only see a pair of children's boxers. _I'm practically naked! _His hands shot up to cover himself, but neither of the adults seemed to notice.

"Don't tell me you were out there with your ear pressed to the door the whole time," Teiboku asked, chuckling lightly. "I would have let you stay in here if you wanted; all you had to do was ask." The woman blushed lightly, her eyes staring down at the tiles of the floor.

"I-I was…" she said to the doctor, still blushing. "I just didn't want to interrupt." Teiboku nodded in understanding as Ms. Familiar turned her beautiful blue eyes (he couldn't help but notice the color) on him. "I thought you might need a change of clothing anyways, so I brought some this morning," the woman told him, her comforting smile making his insides melt. As she set down the bundle and started to remove a pair of pants from what looked like a shirt, it hit him.

He knew who she was.

He remembered.

"You're…I know you," he said slowly. She perked up before turning to look at him, hope in her blue eyes. He couldn't help to notice that the good doctor leaned in as well. "You're…you're the woman who called the ambulance for me, aren't you?"

A large crash came from the corner of the room that Dr. Teiboku had been standing in as he fell over. The woman, on the other hand, merely smiled at him, a somewhat disappointed smile, but a smile none the less, and nodded.

"I am," she told him. Her smile became almost playful when she extended a hand to him. "I am Rachel Moore and it's a pleasure to meet you, again, Conan." When he did nothing, she motioned she just wanted him to 'shake on it'. It was a Western custom he knew, but it seemed to fit better then bowing. He slowly took her hand, his eyes not removing themselves from hers.

"Nice to meet you too," he replied slowly. They shook and removed their hands from each other's. "…Again?" he asked after a moment.

"Yup," the woman, Rachel, chirped a little too happily. "Believe it or not, Conan Edogawa, but you have been living with me and my father for almost a year now." He blinked.

"Are we related?" he asked innocently.

This not remembering anything thing was starting to get _way _more than annoying.

It was starting to make him feel really, _really _dumb.

"No," Rachel replied. "But I like to think of you as my little brother." He didn't know why, but that comment made a fierce blush creep onto his cheeks. She obviously noticed from the small chuckle that escaped from her lips. "Come on, don't be embarrassed! Its true!"

"I-I wouldn't know…" he said quietly. The smile faded from her face, making his gut turn violently. _IDIOT! _a voice screamed at him. _Look what you went and did!_ "But I want too!" he added quickly. "I want to remember, that is."

Yeah, he defiantly knew her.

At least, some part of him did.

It was weird, _scary _weird, the way this woman effected him. He didn't know what it was about her, or what exactly he was feeling towards her, but it was overwhelmingly strong.

There was no doubt in his mind that they had been close.

Now only to get there again…

"Oh! I have your glasses, Conan."

He blinked, not realizing he had zoned out. Now back in reality, a pair of large, thick-lensed glasses were being held out to him with Rachel's encouraging smile behind them, pushing him to take them from her and put them on. These were obviously his. Slowly, he lifted them from her grasp and placed the spectacles onto the bridge of his nose.

No change.

No change whatsoever.

The lenses were probably just glass.

_Why _was he wearing these, again?

"Do…do I _have _to wear these, Miss Rachel?" he asked, unsure on exactly why he put these on in the first place.

"Of course you do, Conan," she said cheerfully. "You don't want to run into walls, now do you?" He opened his mouth to tell her about how much he truly doubted _these _glasses could change that, but she cut him off. "I get it," Rachel chirped, a mischievous smile on her lips. "You don't want to look dorky! Is that it?"

"No, Rachel, it's—!"

"Don't worry!" She giggled. "You don't look dorky at all!"

"But, really, Rachel—!"

"In fact," she adjusted the 'glasses' for him, smiling that smile at him again, "_I _think they make you look quite intelligent and handsome."

_Ugh_, he thought, slumping slightly. _I give up! I'll just wear the stupid glasses!_

-----

"Here's your coffee."

He looked up from his hands to see Dr. Teiboku Aneki holding out a steaming Styrofoam cup. She still had that cocky smile she had on when he first met her. It made him feel uneasy, like she was judging him by everything he did.

Dammit, that's _his _job!

"Thanks," he muttered as he took the cup from her. She took a seat in the chair beside him, the one his daughter was in a few minutes ago before she got up to press her ear to the door, and took a sip from her own cup. "I don't remember asking for coffee, though."

"Eh," Aneki shrugged, leaning over to take the drink back from him. "If you don't want it..." He blinked.

"No, that's okay," he replied quickly. "Coffee's good." There was a chuckle.

"I thought so."

He sipped the coffee.

Bitter, lukewarm, strong coffee.

He smiled. Just like home.

"So…" he turned to see the female doctor giving him a side glance, "what can you tell me about this Conan kid?"

"Why'd you want to know?" he asked, leaning back in the chair. Aneki shrugged.

"Curiosity, I guess."

He smiled a little wider.

"You know," he said, breaking off to sip at his coffee, "curiosity killed the cat."

"But for a while, I was a suspect," she added plainly, her voice matching her cocky smile. He could only chuckle and shake his head.

"If you must know, I really don't know much about him myself," he replied. He swished the coffee around in his cup a bit before going on. "Dr. Agasa, the man who was also in the accident, is his uncle. That guy is probably the most reckless man I know. He does all these crazy experiments, making crap like you wouldn't imagine. Not exactly the place where a kid should grow up, yah know?" He gave her a side glance and she nodded. He let out a sigh. "Soooooooooo, Rachel decided it'd be better if he came to live with us, and I've never been good at arguing with her, since I couldn't even get a word in with her mother, so the brat stayed." He gave her another side glance. The doctor had leaned back in her chair as well, her eyes distant and her lips drawn thin, as if she was in deep thought. "You aren't a shrink, are you?" he asked after a moment.

"A shrink?" she asked while giving him a questionable look.

"Well, it just feels like I'm talking to a shrink," he replied. He raised an eyebrow at her. "You aren't one, are you?"

"God no," Aneki told him quickly. "Hell, I can barely stand Onistu's whining, let alone anyone else's!"

He let out the first laugh he had had in a long time. It was horse and unused, yet strong and full. And it felt good. Really, really good.

Aneki smiled. A true, honest to God smile, which just made him laugh a little more.

"Okay," he said after a moment. "I answered your question, now you have to answer mine."

"Fine, fine," she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Shoot."

"You said that Dr. Agasa only had burns on his legs," he repeated, looking down into his almost empty cup. "Yet he was trapped in a burning car…how the hell did he just manage to burn his legs?"

"You said he does all this experiments and crap, right?" Aneki asked, side glancing at him. He nodded. "Turns out he ain't as reckless as you say. The guy was wearing a very fireproof lab coat, probably stronger then the stuff we give firemen these days. The man probably made it himself. The thing saved his sorry ass, either way." She shrugged again. "One of the many mysteries of life…"

-----

"I'll see you on Tuesday afternoon, okay, Conan?"

The boy nodded, forcing a small smile. He suppressed a cringe.

God, how he hated fake smiles!

He brushed it off. No time to go into a rant. This was a happy time for this family…of sorts. Their child was back from the dead.

This time he suppressed a snort. Now THAT was corny.

"Here's my phone number and home address," he explained while handing the young Rachel a small slip of paper. She took it and opened it to his chicken-scratch handwriting. "Just incase you need to contact me for…any reason." He winked at her good naturedly, making the young woman blush. A quick jab in the ribs reminded him of his better half's presence.

"If you just wanna come over to have some tea, don't hesitate to drop on by," Aki(Aneki, see last chapter) put in, smiling the sweetest smile he had ever seen her wear. The sweetness dropped and was replaced with the mysterious, sarcastic grin he knew ALL too well. "Just remember, we're usually asleep during the day, and if you intend on waking us, may God and heaven above help you," she added out the side of her mouth. Rachel giggled while her father rolled his eyes. He looked down to see Conan, too, roll his big blue eyes, but with a true smile on his lips. Grinning of his own insued.

"See you in a few days, 'kay, Conan?" he chirped. Bent down to ruffle the small child's hair, he added to the boy, "and, what ever you do, do **NOT** take **anything** Aneki offers you when you stop by, got it?" There was a frightened nod and another jab in the ribs.

"And what was _that_, dear husband of mine whom I love so much?" Aki asked through her gritted teeth.

"Nothing, honey!"

"I think we'll go now," Detective Richard Moore said. "Ugh…" the detective made a small bow, "thanks again for looking after the brat."

"Hey!"

"Dad!"

"It was nothing!" he exclaimed, bowing rapidly. "Quite an honor really helping _THE _Great Detective Richard Moore!"

A strong force suddenly gripped his left ear.

"Come on, you rabid fan boy," Aki growled, holding his ear in her iron grip. He sniffled loudly. "See yah Tuesday, kid," she added to Conan, who nodded and gave her a quick bow. She returned it and gave one to each of the other Moores, forcing him to bow with her, thanks to her grip and height disadvantage, before dragging him off.

"Come on, you big idiot," she grunted, pulling him back to the front desk, "let's get punched out and GO TO BED!"

-----

She was home.

Home, sweet home.

Out of the corner of her eye she looked down to see little Conan, the bandage still tied around his forehead. If it wasn't for that small cloth, she wouldn't have known anything had happened.

He looked exactly the same as he did the day of the accident, before she dropped him off at Agasa's. In fact, he looked like he did any other day of the week. He had on his little blue blazer over his little dress shirt. One of his many red ties sat around his neck, making him look like he was trying to be older then he really was. He even had his glasses balanced on his little nose.

But Conan wasn't really there. Conan was somewhere _in _there, but this wasn't him.

It was almost like she was looking at a shell. A clay doll made to look like her little Conan. Everything about him had been 'reset' some how, and now he blank and made for molding.

She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to get rid of those terrible thoughts. This _was _Conan. He just needed someone to remind him who he was, and she was that someone.

It couldn't be any more different then forgetting anything else, right? He just needed something to spark his memory, and everything would be okay again.

"Are we going in or what?" her father asked, already puffing away on another cigarette. Conan gave him a disgusted look.

"Those will kill you, ya know," Conan told him bitterly.

"Look who's the little health nut," Dad snapped sarcastically. He gave the boy a shove with his foot. "Get in already, kid, you're holding up the line!"

"Hey!"

"Dad!" she snapped. "Leave Conan alone!" Her father turned and gave her a look she hadn't seen in a while.

The 'I'm-Trying-So-Leave-Me-The-BEEP-Alone' look.

The look he only gave her when he was talking to her mother.

What ever she was about to say to her father was quickly swallowed and forgotten. "Come on, Conan," she said instead, bending down to give the child a gentle, loving shove. "It's time for you to see your new home!"

"Again," added her father under his breath.

**OH**, how she wished she could give him a nice death glare right then.

But, of course, the 'ITSLMTFA' look was not to be messed with. She'd just wait until all of this was over and _then_ glare at him until he subsided under her might and did what ever she told him to.

Conan gave her a confused look before reaching up and turning the door handle to their home with ease. He turned back and raised his eye brow at her father. "You left the door unlocked," he said, making it more of a statement than a question, "but you forgot the 'ROB ME' sign, I see."

"Why, you little-!"

"SO!" she began to shove both into the home as fast as possible. "What sounds good for lunch?!"

-----

"Stupid déjà vu feeling."

"What was that, Conan?" Rachel asked him. He shook his head quickly.

"Nothing, Miss Rachel," he said quickly. Great, now he was talking to himself. Another stupid trait to add to the ever growin—

"OW!" he wailed, nearly dropping the potato he was peeling.

"Cut away from yourself," Rachel instructed, bending down to cradle his small hands in hers, making the movements for him, "not towards."

Again he blushed, swooned, and nearly fell to his knees in joy. Okay, not really, but he was pretty darn close.

Again, the mere touch from this woman made him go wild. It was _really _starting to tick him off! Then again, just about anything and everything was starting to tick him off.

Just one of many…

Like the fact he was still REALLY sleepy for some reason.

_Ugh,_ he thought, biting back a long yawn. _Soooooooooo tired._

"Miss Rachel?" he asked once she had returned to peeling her own spud instead of his. "After I finish this potato, could you show me where my room is? I'm tired."

"If you're tired, Conan, you can just go to bed!" she told him sweetly, taking the potato from him after setting her own down. "You don't always have to be so formal. And you don't have to call me 'Miss Rachel', either." Before he could tell her otherwise, she started walking out of the kitchen. He gave a hurried look around, not knowing whether to follow her or not, before rushing after her to keep up.

"Here it is!" she said as they reached a small room at the end of the hall up the stairs. She opened the door, exposing more light into the small room. He peered in, letting his eyes adjust to the dim lighting.

It was a small room, which was the first thing he observed. The window, its only light source other than the door, was closed, its curtains drawn, not letting much light in. Under the window was a small futon, which he assumed was his. To the left of it, against the wall, was a small night stand, where a half empty glass of water sat alongside what looked like a small paperback novel. There was a small dresser pushed against one of the walls with various items on top of it: a few other bowties, a glasses repair set, a few sheets of random loose-leaf lined paper, and assorted writing utensils. Other hardback and paperback books were scattered around, some he would think would be far above the reading comprehension of one his age while others were simply shounen manga. It baffled and yet suited him perfectly at the same time to see such a strange room, yet knew in an instant it was his.

Again his head began to spin from all the familiarity surrounding him. His forehead throbbed where he was told he had been hit and a hand rose to massage it. A sharp pain surged across his skull and his hand recoiled back. Nausea took hold suddenly and he fell to his knees.

"Conan!" Rachel cried, dropping down to his side. "Conan, are you okay?" He tried his best to give her a reassuring smile.

"Gotta remember not to touch my head," he said before letting out a weak laugh.

"Here," Rachel gently picked him up and cradled him in her arms, "let me carry you to your bed." His arms looped around her neck and again he could smell her perfume and shampoo. 'Intoxicating' was the only word he could think of to describe the sensation. It made his senses swim again, and he rested his throbbing head on her shoulder, which soothed the pain a little. His eyes closed and was tempted to keep them closed until he felt Rachel remove her arms from around him.

"Where are you going?" he asked weakly. Rachel turned around a gave him another reassuring smile.

"I was just going to make us some tea," she told him in a low, soothing voice. She backtracked back over to his bedside to pull up his covers around him before stroking his cheek. "I won't leave your side after that, though, okay?" He smiled and nodded into her hand. It was warm and soft. He didn't want it to leave his cheek ever. But it did leave, Rachel taking it with her.

He let out a sigh of disappointment before closing his eyes again.

-----

_**It was warm.**_

_**Extremely warm. **_

_**So warm it burned.**_

_**Slowly, he opened his eyes to see a wall of flame surrounding him. A shriek of surprise escaped him as he sat up right.**_

_**Had he been asleep in here?**_

_**Why had he been asleep in someplace that was about to burn down!?**_

**He_ was going to burn! _**

_**A hidden instinct clicked into gear inside of his rattled brain;**_

_**He had to move. **_

_**He had to get out of here NOW!**_

_**He took a quick look around. He was in the passenger's seat of a car.**_

**_He was inside of a flaming car._**

_**Great.**_

_**Wasting no more time, he tried to open the passenger door. **_

_**It didn't budge.**_

_**He swore and tried again.**_

_**No luck.**_

**_Another oath and he decided he needed to do something different._**

**_So he tried _kicking _the door._**

_**That just hurt his foot.**_

**_Well, the door was too heavy and hard to kick open, but maybe he could break the window instead. _**

_**He took in a deep breath before putting all of his energy into one kick. **_

_**The glass cracked—**_

_**He hit it again, this time with his shoulder. **_

—_**it cracked a little more—**_

_**One more slam.**_

—_**it shattered.**_

_**No time for a victory cheer, so instead he pushed himself through the new exit. He choked back a scream when some of the shards dug into his exposed legs and arms—**_

—**_and he hit the ground running. _**

**_He knew he had to get away. _**

_**Far, far away.**_

_**Away from the fire…and something else.**_

_**Yes, something else.**_

_**Something that was much worse. **_

_**Something that he was scared to death of.**_

_**Something that was following him. **_

_**He had to get away from it.**_

_**He had to run.**_

_**And he did.**_

**_He ran as fast as he could, until he could no longer feel the warmth of the fire--_**

**_--until he could no longer hear the crackle as the fire ate away at the car--_**

**_--until he could no longer see the fire's light._**

_**He ran on and on, until he was just running in darkness.**_

_**And then he tripped. **_

-----

He sat up straight, gasping for breath, his body covered in a thin layer of cold sweat.

Where was he?

He took a panicked look around.

He was in someone's bed room, but whose'? And why was he here?

A hand reached out of no where and grabbed onto his shirt, pulling him down. He let out a scream.

A woman—no!—_Rachel_ put both hands on his shoulders.

He remembered now.

This was _his _room, in _his _house.

It was all a dream. Just a stupid nightmare.

But why couldn't he stop shaking?

"Conan! Calm down!" Rachel coaxed, trying to sound calm herself, "I'm right here. Nothing's going to hurt you." He nodded quickly, gulping down the large lump in the back of his throat. He could see his reflection in her large, blue eyes, lighted by the moon shining in through the window behind him. His own eyes were wide with fear he couldn't get rid of and his hair was askew, making him look kind of crazy. It would probably be really funny to him at any other time.

Now, it just made him shudder.

"Rachel…" he whispered unsurely. He leaned forward and buried his face into her shoulder. "Rachel…"

"Shh..." Rachel's arms wrapped around him and suddenly he felt a little safer. "I'm here, it's alright now."

"I don't think I can go back to sleep again," he whispered. The arms holding him tightened.

"I completely understand," she replied, leaning back to give him a wary smile. "Want me to make up some tea?"

-----

She felt uneasy.

"Miro?"

Extremely uneasy.

"Here!"

Like she was going to throw up or something.

"Mitch?"

You know, that turning feeling you get in the pit of your stomach that doesn't like going away, even if you wish with all your might.

"Present!"

And, God, how she was wishing that he was here.

"Conan?"

Her fingers were crossed and everything.

"Edogawa, Conan?"

"Conan isn't here today," Georgy said.

"Thank you, George," her teacher said, giving him a little bow. "Does anyone know where Conan is?"

Most of the class shook their heads. She didn't know, so she shook hers too.

"He was in an accident!" Mitch announced.

Her gut made a violent turn to the left.

_Sharp turn! Sharp turn!_

_Watch out! BOOM!_

She scrunched her eyes shut. _Bad images, _she thought, scolding herself.

"Don't any of you watch the news?" Mitch asked, looking around the room. Heads shook in 'no's. "They said 'A yellow Volkswagen Beatle ran into a light pole around nine o'clock last night'."

"What does that have to do with Conan?" George asked.

"It was an OLD Yellow Volkswagen Beatle, George," Mitch replied matter-o-factly. "And who do we know that drives one of those?"

"…Dr. Agasa…" the plump boy replied slowly.

"Exactly!" Mitch said. "And they also said there were two passengers found!"

"That means Conan—"

"Sorry I'm late!"

Everyone turned towards the door to see Conan Edogawa stumble into the classroom, his backpack barely on his shoulders, followed by Rachel Moore, who had one of her hands protectively around one of his. She felt a twinge of jealously. He'd never held hands like that with _her_. As she watched Rachel pull their teacher to the side, she saw her opening and decided to take it.

"Conan!" she called, waving him over. "Conan! Over here!" He turned, gave her a strange look, like he was unsure of whether or not to come over, before grabbing onto the hem of his female guardian's skirt.

"What's wrong with Conan?" George asked, bending over near her desk to talk in a low whisper.

"He was in that car wreck, remember?" Mitch stated just as low.

"No, you're just full of it."

"This is your seat, Conan."

She looked up to see the teacher show Conan the desk next to her, like he didn't already know. He bowed slightly and took a seat with the blank look still on his face.

"Hey, Conan," she whispered to him out of the side of her mouth. "What's wrong?"

"Do I…uhh…know you?" he asked, whispering as well.

"That's no way to talk to Amy!" George nearly yelled. Luckily he caught himself, and kept his voice level on the down low.

"Your name is Amy?" Conan asked. She felt tears in her eyes.

"Conan!" she sniffed. "How could you be so mean!?" He gave her a confused look, which turned into a frightened one once he caught the glares Mitch and George were giving him.

"I'm sorry!" he whispered back. "But I really don't—"

"Conan!"

His head shot up towards the front of the class, as well as everyone else's. Rachel, who had just stormed back in, blushed. "You, uh, forgot your lunch," the teenager explained, moving to set it on his desk. "I'll just…leave it here." There was a quick bow to the teacher and Rachel was gone.

She couldn't let this happen! She had to find out for herself what was going on.

"Teacher!" she exclaimed, raising her hand and waving it around to catch her attention. "Teacher, can I go to the bathroom!?"

"Amy, we've not even started school."

"But I _really_ have to go!" she exclaimed. "Please?"

"Fine," her teacher said with a sigh. "Take the pass, and I want you back in five minutes, got it?" She nodding before getting up to grab the little tag shaped bathroom pass before running out the door.

"Rachel!" she called after the teenager, who was slowly going down the hall. "Rachel, wait up!"

"Amy!" Rachel exclaimed, turning around. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"But I had to ask you something first!" she replied. She stopped in front of the young woman and took a moment to catch her breath. "What…what's wrong with Conan? He was acting weird." Rachel began chewing on her bottom lip.

"Okay, sure," she said, bending down to her level, "I'm sure I can trust you." The teenager took a deep breath before going on. "Conan…was in a car accident."

Her gut made a violent turn to the _right_.

"He hit his head…" Rachel said, continuing. "And now…he doesn't remember anything from before the accident."

"You mean…" she felt her eyes weld up again, "he doesn't remember me?"

"He doesn't remember anything, Amy," Rachel corrected, placing her hands on her small shoulders. "He doesn't even remember who _he _is. He's really scared and confused…so I need you and Mitch and George to help him out, okay?" She gave a solemn nod.

"Of course we will, Rachel!" she exclaimed, smiling now. "You can trust in us!"

-----

"Does it hurt?"

George poked the gauze on top of his head wound and he hissed in pain. "Yes, it does, so stop poking it!" he snapped, glaring at the boy. You'd think after the third time, they'd get the concept that it stung when poked!

"Georgy, leave Conan alone," Amy said, looping her arm around his _again_. This time he didn't bother trying to twist out. He'd just get glares either way from the two other boys. Ugh, could he **never **win?

"Don't call me 'Georgy', Amy!" the tall one pouted, crossing is large arms. "It's just 'George'."

"Well, regardless…" Mitch, the skinny one, said, interrupting, "I TOLD YOU SO!" The geeky looking boy started prancing around the larger one, pointing and laughing like seven-year-olds should. "I TOLDYOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO!"

"Do I want to know?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Geez, even with your memory gone, you're still a party pooper," George snorted.

"Should I take that as a complement or an insult?"

"Hey!" Amy pointed off to the side, "Let's go to the park and play some soccer!" she suggested. Something buried inside of him sprung into life.

"Can we?!" he asked, not knowing why he was so excited. The other three gave him confused looks.

"Are you sure he doesn't remember _anything_?" Mitch asked George out of the side of his mouth. George shrugged.

"You know," he stated dryly, feeling his eye twitch, "I can still hear you both."

"Okay!" Amy exclaimed, obviously not paying attention to what was just going on. "I'll go get a ball from my house across the street; you guys stay right here!"

-----

"Conan! Go for it!"

Amy side kicked the ball over to him, and his foot swept up to catch it on its underside, transferring it to his toe. Then, using his knee to get the ball a little higher into the air, he stepped back to put as much force as he could into his next kick. The ball came down as if in slow motion and, at precisely the right moment, he put all of his frustration into one swing and his foot came crashing into the ball.

"HEADS UP!"

George jumped out of the way faster then he thought someone so big could. "Are you trying to _KILL_ me, Conan!?" the large boy asked from where he was sprawled out on the ground.

"No," he replied, smiling despite himself. He bent down to help the other boy up. "I was just trying to get a good shot."

"Its not his fault you're so big you take up the whole goal," Mitch said under his breath.

"Why you!"

What ever happened next, he didn't care nor was he paying attention to it. He went over to the soccer ball and kicked it up with his toe. The ball flipped up a little ways and he caught it and balanced it on his knee for half a second. The ball began to quiver, so he bumped up his knee and the ball flew into the air. His heel came up and kicked it back over his head, where the notch between his foot and his leg kicked it back up again.

God, this was so much fun! He didn't even have to think; it all came so easy to him. For once since he woke up in the hospital, he didn't need any more answers. This was enough.

"Hey! Conan! Wanna share that ball some time?"

The ball missed his forehead and smacked into his glasses. Loosing his balance, he fell backwards onto the wet grass…

_The ball missed his forehead and smacked him right in the nose. Loosing his balance, he fell backwards onto the wet grass._

"_Jimmy!" she called, running over to him. "Jimmy! Are you hurt?" _

"_Never, _EVER _throw a pinecone at me while I'm doing that _AGAIN_," he snapped, pushing himself into a sitting position. "And yes, I _am _hurt. You hurt my pride." He turned his nose up and turned away. She scoffed._

"_You're seven," she snapped, pushing him with her shoulder. "You don't _have _pride yet."_

"_Who says I don't?" he asked defensively._

"_I do," she replied, shoving him again. "You sleep in footsy pajamas for Pete's sake!" He blushed._

"_That was ONCE!" he growled. "And I told you to never speak of that again!"_

"_You still don't have pride," she replied plainly, pouting slightly._

"_I'm going to choose to ignore that and instead ask why the heck you threw a pinecone at my head!" he barked. It was her turn to blush._

"_Well, you weren't listening to me!" she explained. "Besides, I didn't hurt you THAT much." She reached out to touch the bruise on his forehead, but he pulled away._

"_Don't touch it!" he snapped. "It still stings."_

"_Aww, poor baby," she replied mockingly. "Just let me see it." She reached out again, but he pulled away. She frowned. "Come on, you big cry baby! Let me _see_ it!" _

"_No!" he yelled, jumping to his feet and running in the opposite direction._

"_JIMMY KUDO!" she screamed, getting up to go after him. "YOU GET YOUR BUTT BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!"_

"_YOU'LL HAVE TO CATCH ME!" he called back, laughing now. She—_

"CONAN!"

"Dude, what's wrong with him?"

"Conan! Please! Snap out of it!"

"Wow, he's really pale…"

"George, shut up."

He blinked, his eyes coming back into focus. He was staring at green, wet grass, which his two hands were clutching to like he were to fall off the face of the Earth if he let go.

And he was shaking, and he couldn't stop.

What was that?

Was that a memory?

Who was that girl and why did she call him 'Jimmy'?

"…Conan?" he repeated, choking back another shutter. He looked up to see all three of the children he had come here with standing around him; Amy, Mitch, and George. He gripped the grass a little harder, feeling the mud go under his nails. "That's…that's my name, right?"

-----

_**Review Responses:**_

El Hustino- Yeah, he does sound kinda girly XD I don't know…still kinda hot…ANYWHO! Wonder-bar review as usual, and you don't know how much it means to me that you like the doctors XD

Buggy, the Young and Underpaid- ugh, even the name makes me feel sorry for you –huggles- Thankies for reading XD Sorry to have to force you!

T9- …you know, all these Hustino reviews you're leaving are both scary and really cool! I don't want you to stop, if you don't mind XD I kinda like hearing your take on things for this fic, but of course, you know why!

Mandi-Solo- Don't worry about the name thing, babe! See, I didn't really need it after all! Sorry it took so long to update! I would of done it sooner if I could have, but yeah…sorry!

Manzanita- Thankies for the tip, but I decided not to use it XD I hope you don't mind! I still love having you as a reviewer, tho! Thankies!

Electrobomb- well, you got more, took for freaking ever, but there's your 'more'! XD Mrs. WTF XD WTF MATES! –hops off-

Silver Sky Magician- XD I'm gonna die, aren't I? I'm SO SORRY! I really have no excuse, have I? I only hope I didn't loose you as a reader T-T

Kyllir- A good start, huh? Well, glad to be of service! I hope this chapter made your day again! Sorry for the wait!

PRIVATE- grr, they won't let me show the little star thingies in your SN XD STUPID FF . NET! Anywho, sorry for not updating and thanks for the tip! I'll remember that!

Hehehe- oh, the dreaded 'forgotten tape night'! And it always seems to be the best episodes that you miss, too! Not fair at all, is it? Well, sorry for the uber late update!

YumeTakato- hehe XD I like the ending for that one too! I think tis because I used Conan's POV –shrugs- I don't know

FireHedgehog- Hehehe! You lucky bastard! You got to see the movies! LUCKY LUCKY LUCKY! –watches as you run off with my fic- hey! YOU BETTER BRING THAT BACK!

Lady Bethany- You flatter me, dear Lady B! I'm glad I make so many people happy with this XD too bad you'll all probably kill me for such a late update now, tho XD

Dorgan- XD You have caught me! I am the typo queen, don'tcha know! I even have a beta reader, and _he _doesn't even catch all my mistakes XD he's a wonderful beta-reader tho, and I love him –huggles Hustino-sama- Anywho, I guess you get a cookie, caz you got Gigi right! –hands over a peanut butter cookie- enjoy!

Southpaw- first, thanks for the tip about the review responses at the end! I guess It makes a lot more sense then having it at the beginning, so thankies much! Also, I think you're right about the 'one truth' thing XD I was kinda confuzzled XD

Jet-1- I hope you haven't made up your own ending yet! See! I updated XD So sorry! I understand what you mean about the relationship between Richard and Jimmy. I love Richard, my self. –waves her 'MOORI KOGORO 4 EVA!!!' flag a little- I'm hoping to have some relationship building…ness in this…somewhere XD

Grodonex22- A week? Eek, that was a while ago! So sorry! Well, I've updated now, haven't I?

Ooshii Kurai- eek XD I should have expanded a little more on that line, shouldn't I have? Rachel was glaring because Onistu was trying to make them think he was going to tell them bad news, which she really didn't need, which was 'The News' he was talking about and…yeah XD shutting up now XD

Ch. 3- In check? Ha, if only you knew how much they run away with me some times…

JOSH- Don't we all….don't we all…I've seen the Japanese version, tho, and you ain't missing much…except Jimmy (or should I call him Shinichi?) sounding like a girl XD Not really, but that joke just wont die XD

Denebola Topas- I can't tell you that kind of information! Do you want me to ruin the entire fic for you?! For shame!

LordVaughan- yupp! That's the whole point basically! XD

Machi-Gai- …well, thanks for the nice little reference chart for me! Now I know if I'm spelling them right! You didn't have to do it, tho, caz I know all their names. I just used the American names caz I can, but I do appreciate the effort! Please, tho, I would kinda like a _real_ review from you next time, since it was kinda rude just correcting me without even knowing the story. –shakes her fingers at you- for shame, for shame!

AbisiansBlood- Ampersand…hmm…I didn't know that! Oh! I KNOW YOU NOW! Hehehe! Thankies for taking the time to read another one of my fics! It means a lot! Really, it does XD …great, now I'M rambling!

Kitsune-FireDragon- eep! Don't cry! I didn't _mean_ to put I discontinued it! I kinda thought I wouldn't be able to bring myself to up date this for…forever, so instead of making you all think I had just abandoned you…well, either way I kinda abandoned you –sigh- I can't win, can I? XD Well, you do, caz I updated! Wee!

Blu: -sigh- everyone here and accounted for

TK: poor Blu-chan! She's all tuckered out!

Blu: …now you're scaring me! You're acting like Hustino!

TK: …ah crap, I am!

Blu: Anywho, that's it! Hope you liked it! I'll hopefully have the next one up sooner XD

Ku-na!


	5. Out of Whack

Blu: O.O

TK: Blu-chan's in shock, if you couldn't tell

Blu: I HAVE 101 REVIEWS FOR FOUR CHAPTERS! WOOOOO-does the super mega freakin happy dance- YOU ALL ROCK MY F-CKING SOCKS-gives EVERYONE ramen of their choice, pocky, and HUGS- sooooooo happy!

Okay, I'm better now XD

Thankies again to EVERYONE who reviewed! YOU ALL GET HUGS!Anywho, I won't waste your time any more with my mindless babble, so let's get to the chapter, shall we?

Big thanks to Kenny-kun and Hustino-kun for all there help with this chapter! Love you both -huggles-

Read, review, and wait, the three things that happen on this site!

-

**Chapter Four: Out of Whack**.

-

It had started to rain again. Not as hard as it had been, which made her a little happier, but more of a light, rhythmic drizzle.

She had always disliked rain. One, lightning gave her the creeps, and always scared the skin off of her, and two, it made everyone else extremely gloomy. Sure, she liked to mope as much as the next person, but when everyone around her was doing it, it was a little unnerving.

She disliked rain, but she had never hated it. It was just…well, annoying.

Either way, there was nothing in her power that could allow her to change the current weather, however gloomy and depressing it may be, so instead she preoccupied herself with cooking.

Cooking was something she had always been good at. No expert, mind you, but apparently she was good enough to please her family, which was really all that mattered. She had also always enjoyed cooking. It was one of the few things she felt her mother left to her when her parents broke up. She learned to cook from her mother and felt a little closer to her mom when making every meal.

Corny? yes.

True? Completely.

Tonight she was making Conan's favorite meal. She already had everything planned out in her head, too. They were all going to sit down, like a normal family, and talk about each other's day. It was going to a normal, casual dinner.

Well…hopefully.

The rhythmic chopping of her knife in time with the drumming of the rain on the windowpane was almost so relaxing it was borderline hypnotic. She paused for a moment to clear her head so not to chop off her own fingers by daydreaming. Sadly, no matter how much she tried to concentrate on keeping her mind from wandering, it still seemed to slip off into the same subject.

'_What do we do now?'_

It was a simple question that had been implanted in her mind since what happened only a few nights ago. Every time she tried to answer it, it only brought up more questions she couldn't answer. One of which made her especially uneasy.

'_What if Conan never comes back?'_

Ever since she got the news about the amnesia, this question, and all the others it brought up, had nearly driven her insane.

'_What if Conan's memories never came back?'_

'_What if he was never the same again?' _

'_Was this all my fault for not letting him come in the first place?' _

'_Would he blame me?'_

She visibly shuddered. Just thinking about the possibilities made her sick to her stomach. All she could do now was try to help him as much as much as possible and put all of her faith into Dr. Teiboku and his wife. They were probably Conan's last hope…

"Rachel? I'm home."

The voice shook her from her thoughts. It was Conan's.

Careful not to cut her hand in the process, she dropped the knife and quickly cleaned her hands on the apron around her waist. "I'm coming, Conan!" she called, finally leaving the kitchen and going down the stairs leading from their living quarters to Dad's office. She bounded down the stairs two at a time, ready to embrace her 'little brother' in a 'welcome home' hug. "Welcome ho-" she started, but her voice dropped off when she saw the boy standing at the door.

He was covered in mud.

There was mud on his knees and lower legs. His hands had deep, dark patches of dirt and grime around his fingertips and thumbs. Muddy handprints smeared his shirt around his middle, like some mud monster hand been holding him. Even his hair was thinly lined with muck, as if he had been running his mud-caked hands through it worriedly.

"C-Conan!" she choked out. "Conan, what happened?"

Three new voices chimed into life as the Junior Detective League announced their presence behind Conan. It was almost impossible to tell what any of them were saying though, seeing as they were all screaming out their own explanations. George was waving his hands around, gesturing to whatever was happening in his side of the story. Mitch had his 'I-didn't-do-it-but-I-know-what-happened' look on and was also making wide motions with his arms. Amy just looked like she was going to burst into tears.

She opened her mouth to ask them all to calm down and talk one at a time when Conan gave the other three the most deadly glare she had ever seen on him. The trio shrunk back and snapped their mouths shut.

"I fell," Conan said quickly after turning back to her. His voice was stern and emotionless. "I tripped and fell in the mud when we were playing soccer." The little boy then paused to take off his shoes and then walked past her and towards the stairs.

"Conan!" she called after him helplessly. "Conan, where are you going?"

"I'm going to go clean up," came the snort reply. It was followed by the door to the bathroom being slammed.

She glared at the door. What was _his _problem?

She should have grabbed him, she thought bitterly. She should have grabbed him by his little arm and pulled him back down those stairs and demanded to know what he was keeping from her. She should have-

She sighed loudly. What had she been thinking? Conan probably had a reason he didn't want to tell her what had happened.

And he didn't have to.

She'd just get the Junior Detective League to tell her for him.

She turned back towards the doorway and saw all three of the children hanging their heads in shame. They looked so innocent and adorable that way. She sighed again.

There goes the plans of beating it out of them…

She kneeled down by Amy. The child looked even closer to tears then before. "Amy?" she said quietly. The girl looked up at her through her bangs, nodded, and returned to staring at her feet again. "Amy? Can you tell me what happened?" There was a sniffle before the child shook her head. "Why?"

"C-Conan will be m-m-mad at me," Amy whimpered. She shook hear head.

"I'm sure Conan won't be made at you," she said, trying to sound as reassuring as she could. "If you tell me, I can help him." Amy shook her head again, this time a little quicker.

"Don't make Amy tell," George said. She looked up from Amy to him and saw he was pleading with her. She sighed again.

"I'm sorry," she muttered. "I should make you kids say stuff you don't want to." She paused to ruffle Amy's wet hair. That got the girl to smile at least a little. "Now you three run home before your parents start calling the police thinking you've been kidnapped or something." The trio of chibi detectives nodded in unison before turning around and heading back down the stairs.

She sighed…again and looked up the stairs towards the door Conan had disappeared into.

"What am I going to do with that boy?"

-

He slammed the door behind him out of defiance.

He didn't have to tell Rachel everything. Most of all she didn't need to know what had happened. She couldn't have helped him anyways. It was better if she didn't ever know-

He fell to his knees. Waves of nausea flowed out from his forehead and into the rest of his body. It was a wonder he hadn't passed out by now.

"What was that?" he muttered, running his left hand through his hair, carefully avoiding the injury on the right side of his head. "What…what the hell was that?" He could hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears. A dry laugh found its way out of his throat. "This is what I get for liking soccer," he said to himself, shaking his head. Unfortunately for him, the movement caused another surge of dizziness to course through him. The nausea made his stomach turn. '_I'm going to throw up!_' he thought weakly.

Using his arms, he pulled himself up to the bowl of the toilet. When he looked down into the water filling the bowl, his stomach gave another heave, and this time he couldn't keep the vomit from coming out. A few minutes later, he wiped his mouth. His face twisted in disgust at the taste that was left behind. Shakily, he used the stool to stand up. A hand clutched his stomach, which was still burning.

'_What a trip_,' he mused bitterly as he edged his way to the sink. Moving fast, he had decided, was a bad thing. Therefore, from this point on, he was going to take things nice and slow so he wouldn't have to repeat the last few minutes again any time soon. Lucky for him, the sink was right beside the toilet.

Next problem: getting up TO the sink.

Apparently his height did not allow him to even reach the edge. For a few minutes, he stared up at the rim of the sink, wondering exactly how small he was to where he couldn't even see over the top. "This is getting me no where," he muttered finally, taking up surveying the room.

Tile floor, bathtub with a screen and shower head, wall, bathroom door, toilet, sink, stool-

"Bingo."

He used his feet to pull the stool over towards him while gripping the edge of the sink for support after deciding that dipping his head or crouching would probably just make him sick to his stomach again. It took him a few tries, but he finally managed to get it out from around the other side of the sink to beside him. He then took a minute to catch his breath. After the break, he again used his legs to position the stool in front of him. He took the time to slow his breathing again before slowly climbing on top of the sink.

His reflection in the mirror above the sink greeted him.

At least, he believed it was his reflection.

A young boy, probably no older then six or seven, stared back at him blankly. Two large, blue eyes behind thick rimmed glasses looked out at him from under the jagged, deep brown bangs framing his face.

He blinked.

The boy blinked.

With one hand, he removed the glasses from his face.

The boy did the same.

Together, they set their spectacles down onto the sink top. Looking back at the boy, he blinked again.

The boy looked different without his glasses. He seemed to be a little older, a little wiser, a little worse for wear. It was as if the glasses were the boy's innocence, and without them, he was just an old man in a child's body. The boy looked sadder too. Maybe the boy didn't want to be this way…

Was he really this boy?

For a moment he forgot what he was looking into.

He reached out his hand, expecting it to pass through what ever force was between him and the boy. The boy reached out too. Their hands got closer and closer-

And then his finger tips ran into a cold mirror.

He blinked again.

That's right…it was just a reflection. He winkled his nose. Well, duh it's just a reflection, he's looking into a mirror! What in the world had he been thinking?

His hand flattened against the mirrors surface, covering the image of his face with the back of his palm.

That boy was him.

Why hadn't he recognized himself?

…okay, stupid question.

"So you're Conan Edogawa?" he asked the mirror, sliding his hand down, out of the way. His hand left a muddy smug as a trail over one half of the mirror. His reflection stared back at him, not answering, keeping all its secrets to itself.

Then it shifted.

He watched in bewilderment as his reflection twisted before his eyes. The form in the mirror swayed and grew.

Soon he was looking into the two same sad, deep blue eyes.

Only older.

A teenaged boy, either Rachel's age or older, stared out at him through the mirror. The teen looked helpless, trapped behind the glass of the mirror.

Out of surprise, he took a step back, forgetting where he was. His toes brushed the back of the stool and he began loosing his balance. To keep himself up right, he instinctively started to wave his arms around. Helplessly, he watched the man in the mirror reach out through the glass to try to grab him.

"No! No!" he grunted, forgetting about trying to keep himself upright. He instead tried to keep the hand from grabbing him. "No-OH!" With that, he fell completely off of the stool and landed with a '_thunk_' onto the tile floor, the back of his head smacking against the wall.

Everything went black…

-

…_**He ran on and on, until he was just running in darkness.**_

_**And then he tripped. **_

**_The ground, although he couldn't see it, rushed up to meet him and he instinctively covered his face with his arms and twisted into a roll. He choked back another scream of pain when he tumbled across the cold ground._**

_**He soon skidded to a stop. **_

_**Panting heavily, he pushed himself up with his arms and shakily tried to stand. **_

_**His mind was jumbled. He tried to focus, but it was hard. **_

_**At the moment, he didn't feel like dealing with 'hard'. **_

**_Staggering, he tried to take a few steps forward, but his heart was beating too loudly in his ears; his head was pounding too fast. _**

_**Somehow, he found his way to a wall, which he leaned against to catch his breath. **_

_**Suddenly, his senses tingled, like he was being watched. **_

_**He pushed himself against the wall.**_

_**Someone was watching him…**_

_**He had to try to keep moving.**_

**_That…_thing _was out there._**

_**Somewhere.**_

_**And it was watching him. **_

_**He knew it. **_

_**He had to keep moving. **_

_**Whatever it was that was out there, he didn't want it to find him.**_

_**So he took off running again. **_

**_He ignored the beating of his heart in his ears as it grew louder._**

**_He ignored the pounding of his head as it got faster and faster._**

_**He ignored everything and kept running.**_

_**Where to, he had no clue.**_

_**But he had to get there.**_

**_He was going in the right direction, that much he knew._**

_**Slowly, gradually, the darkness got lighter and lighter.**_

_**He hadn't noticed it at first, but now it was a little brighter around him. **_

_**He was now running through the streets of somewhere; rain had started to fall and become heavier and heavier with every step he took.**_

_**Soon, he was running through puddle after puddle, soaking the sneakers he was wearing.**_

_**And then, in front of him, he saw something.**_

_**Another person. **_

**_No, a _woman**

_**The darkness seemed to end with her. **_

_**He sped up. **_

"_**Hey!" he screamed. **_

_**He slowly got closer and closer to the woman.**_

"_**HEY!" he called again.**_

_**The woman didn't turn around. **_

_**Finally he skidded to a stop in front of her. **_

"_**Hey," he said again. **_

_**His words seemed drowned out by the rain.**_

"_**Hey!" he repeated. **_

**_The woman casually looked over her shoulder down at him._**

_**He froze. **_

_**She had no face.**_

_**The woman had no face! **_

_**He tried to take a step back, but the woman grabbed his arm.**_

"**STATE YOUR NAME_," a voice, _her_ voice, commanded._**

_**His eyes widened with fear.**_

"**STATE YOUR NAME_."_**

"_**W-what!" he screamed.**_

_**He shook his arm, but the woman's grip was too strong.**_

"**STATE YOUR NAME_." _**

_**He took a frightened look around.**_

_**His name…What was his name!**_

"_**I DON'T KNOW!" he screamed finally.**_

"**STATE YOUR NAME_."_**

"_**I DON'T KNOW MY NAME, OKAY!" he yelled, fighting to free his arm. "JUST LET GO OF ME!"**_

"**STATE YOUR NAME!"**

-

"Let go of me…Let go of me! I DON'T KNOW!"

His eyes shot open and he sat up right, breathing heavily.

Where was he?

What was going on?

What the _hell _was that!

He took a panicked look around.

He was in his room again-not some random street in the rain-his room. There was his dresser and his books and his glasses… Slowly his breathing relaxed.

"I-it was all a dream…" he said aloud. He let out an relieved chuckle before letting his head fall back down onto his pillow. "It was all just a dream…"

"…yes…_yes_, dad, I understand…"

He shot back up.

"…_no_ dad…_yes_ dad…"

"Is that…Rachel?" he muttered out loud to himself, looking towards his door. Slowly he got up out of his futon and wandered sluggishly over to the half opened doorway that led out into the hallway. There was a low buzzing sound in the back of his ears, although he couldn't figure out why it was there. Even over the buzz, he could still hear the voice-Rachel's he expected-getting louder and more clear the closer he got to the stairs, until he was only a step or two from the landing.

A ways down, pacing in her father's office, was Rachel, phone in one hand and phone cord twisted nervously around the fingers of the other. She was muttering loudly into the receiver end, as if she was fighting static for her father's attention. For a while he just stood there, leaning on the wall, watching her as she talked.

She truly was a beautiful woman. He didn't know why, but he always caught himself looking at her. Did he do this before? Before the accident and everything?

He must have.

But…why?

…now wasn't that the million dollar question now-a-days?

"Yeah Dad," Rachel said finally, after screaming two word sentences into the receiver for a good ten minutes. Her face softened. "I love you too. Bye." The teen then gently set the phone back onto its cradle before letting out a sigh. He watched as she ran a hand through her chestnut hair in a worried fashion. She muttered something to herself, something he couldn't hear from the stairwell, and turned away to arrange some of the papers on the desk.

This was his chance…

"Rachel?" he asked. She immediately jumped, dropping the papers in her hands before spinning around towards him. He winced. _Oops…_

"Conan!" she cried. "Conan, you're up!" she raced up the stairs towards him, stopping a few steps away so she'd be at about his eye level. "How are you feeling? You took quite a fall…"

"Fall?" he asked. "What fall…?"

"_No! No!" he grunted, forgetting about trying to keep himself upright. He instead tried to keep the hand from grabbing him. "No-OH!" With that, he fell completely off of the stool and landed with a 'thunk' onto the tile floor, the back of his head smacking against the wall. _

_Everything went black…_

He let out a soft groan.

Right.

_THAT_ fall.

Explains the buzz.

He rubbed his face.

First that…vision-that _thing_-

-then what happened in the bathroom-

-and then that dream/nightmare/memory/…thing.

Dear Lord, he was going insane!

"Conan? Is something wrong?"

He looked up to see Rachel giving him that caring, concerned face she probably hasn't been able to take off around him since he woke up.

He was really starting to hate that face.

He opened his mouth to tell her what was wrong, but abruptly shut it.

What was he thinking! Rachel would think he was _nuts_ if he told her everything that had happened!

…granted, he was starting to think he himself was nuts, but he didn't need Rachel thinking he had fallen off his rocker _just _yet.

He'd tell her _later_.

Much later.

Much, _much_ later.

"My head hurts," he said finally. "It really, really hurts."

"Oh, poor baby," the teen cooed softly, running a hand over his cheek. "And you feel a little warm." She removed her cool hand from his cheek and pressed the back to his forehead. "Aww, you have a fever!" Rachel announced in a worried tone before sliding her hand off of his forehead to drag it lovingly through his hair. "Good thing I called you in sick today."

"You did?" he asked. He blinked. "Wait, what time is it?" Rachel paused to check the watch face on the front of her wrist.

"Almost noon," she responded. She looked back up at him and gave him a sweet smile while running another hang though his mess of hair. "You've been asleep for almost twenty hours."

He looked down and repeated 'twenty hours' to himself.

When had his appointment with Dr. Teiboku been?

Three or four?

Was it even still on?

Damn it, he needed to talk to that doctor! Teiboku might be the only one he could talk about the _things _he had been seeing and feeling and noticing ever since he woke up.

"Rachel," he said quickly, looking back up at her, "when's my appointment with Dr. Teiboku?"

"Oh, I cancelled that," she replied. He stared up at her in disbelief. Rachel obviously caught the hint and gave him an apologetic look. "I didn't know when you'd wake up, so I called us both in sick and cancelled the appointment until further notice."

"Is there anyway you can un-cancel it or something?" he half asked, half pleaded. Rachel bit her bottom lip.

"I could try," she said finally, "but why you want to see him so badly?"

He opened and shut his mouth again.

What to say? What to say!

"Never mind," Rachel said before he could even think up an excuse. "I'll just see if Dr. Teiboku is still awake." With that she turned back around and headed down the stairs.

He let out a sigh of relief.

He didn't have to spill anything after all.

Good thing too, because he had no clue what he was going to say.

-

"Uh…'ello?"

"Um, hi," she said into the telephone, "is this Teiboku residence?"

"Rachel?" a sleepy sounding voice asked back. It was probably Aneki's from the feminine tone to it. "Rachel Moore?"

"Uh, yeah, hi!" she responded. Hadn't been expecting Aneki… "Is your husband still awake?"

"He's been out since we got home, aka the _last_ time you called," came the half irritated, half joking response. "As have I," Aneki added. "Besides, I'm awake now, so why don't you just tell me what you need to tell him, and I'll relay it to him later." Again she chewed her bottom lip.

Hadn't thought of that either…

"Well," she began, "Conan just woke up-"

"Really?" Aneki interrupted. "How's the kid doing?"

"Fine," she replied, "except he's complaining that his head hurts."

"Well," the doctor on the other phone let out a short laugh, "that's to be expected, now isn't it?"

"Well, that brings us to why I called," she continued. She paused, waiting for Aneki to interrupt her again, but the other end was silent. "Conan _really_ wants to speak with your husband after all."

"Did he say why?" Aneki asked.

"No," she replied plainly. "He just said he needed to."

A 'Uh-huh' was heard on the other end.

"Umm…see, there's a problem with all of this," Aneki said finally. She sighed.

Great, a catch.

"Onistu…he's not really in the mood to deal one-on-one with patients today," Aneki continued.

"Why's that?" she asked. Another pause.

"Well…one of his patients…uh…well, they died last night," the female doctor finally replied slowly, as if searching for the right words. She drew in a quick breath.

"That's terrible!"

"Yeah," Aneki replied. "Onistu gets pretty close to most of his patients. Its always hard to watch one of them go for him."

"Really?"

"Yeah." There was a sigh from the other end. "To put it lightly, he ain't takin' it to well." She opened and closed her mouth.

_Jeez, that's harsh_, she thought, _but what can I say?_

"I'm so sorry," she whispered finally.

"Ah, don't worry about it," Aneki replied. "It ain't got nothing to do with you, and there's a pretty good chance he'll get over it in a few weeks. But," another sigh, "Onistu sometimes gets caught up in the downsides of things more then the upsides, mainly when it comes to death. Poor guy is just too much of a softy…"

"I-I'm sorry to waste your time, then," she said, interrupting. "Let's just reschedule or something for another day. I'm sure Conan will understand-"

"Nonsense!" Aneki crowed from the other end. "If the kid really needs this session so badly, why don't I take you two to lunch and we can discuss what the problem is over some food."

"No!" she insisted into her end. "I couldn't ask you to do that! You've already done so much for us so already!"

"It's nothing," Aneki said quickly, "I assure you. Drop by in an hour or so, and I'll treat you to my favorite place."

She opened her mouth to protest, but the click from the other end signaled her that anything else said would fall to deaf ears.

She let out a sigh.

What was she going to do! She couldn't just let Aneki pay for a meal for them when she and her husband had already done so much for them! It just didn't feel right!

She set down the phone and ran a hand through her hair.

"Crap, crap, crap."

"Rachel? I'm changed."

She looked up to see little Conan at the top of the stairs in a pair of faded blue jeans only slightly too big for him being held up by a black belt buckle. Loosely tucked into the jeans was an orange t-shirt Jimmy's mother had lent to her for Conan to use last time she was in town, which had the brand name of some American brand printed across it. She didn't know quite what it said, seeing as she wasn't doing too well in her English class at school, so she wasn't sure what the brand was of.

Conan slowly made his way down the steps connecting their living quarters and her dad's office. He was wearing his glasses again, now that he was probably awake enough to remember them. She couldn't put her finger on it, but he did seem to look different when his glasses were off.

Why would that be?

"Where's your dad?" the little boy asked, looking around.

"Daddy went out on a case last night and he just called a while ago to check up on everything here," she explained.

"Case?" Conan repeated. Some realization clicked in and she watched his eyes light up. "You mean like a mystery? Was it a murder!"

She giggled.

Same old Conan after all.

"Yupp," she replied. "I know you would have wanted to go, but you were sound asleep."

"Aww…" he muttered softly to himself. She left her place by the desk and walked towards him before bending down in front of him.

"Listen," she said softly, "if you promise not to take any more spills off of bathroom stools, then I'll make sure you get to go on the next case." Conan scrunched up his face.

"It's not like I _meant _to fall off the stool…"

She giggled again.

"Oh, Conan," she said suddenly, remembering the talk she just had on the phone, "Dr. Teiboku can't meet with you today. Sorry." The boy's little mouth dropped open.

"What!" Conan asked in disbelief. "Why!"

"He…uh…" she paused. _Okay, how to put this…_ "He just…well, he just can't," she said finally. Conan gave a disappointed groan and hung his head. "But I do have good news!" she said quickly. He looked up. "Dr. Aneki offered to take us out to lunch later." His eyes brightened a little bit. She stood up and turned back over to the desk before calling over her shoulder to him. "I'll finish picking this place up and then we can hop the bus over to the Teiboku's place, seeing as dad took the car with him."

"Okay," Conan replied. There was a patch of silence. "Can I help?" he asked finally.

"Sure," she replied.

The two of them then set off to make her dad's office spotless for his return.

-

_**Review Responses:**_

El Hustino- THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP-huggles- You are glorious, you know that! Anywho, yessh, I did want poor Conan to be as confused as hell thru out this whole thing XD I'm also very happy I've kept everything thing so realistic, altho you are the main reason I've tried so hard to keep this right! Plus, you've helped me so much with the medical stoof! I'm sooo grateful-HUGGLES-

LegacyRBluesummers- WOO! POCKY-attacks it- THANK YOU-HUGGLES-

Southpaw- 'Captured in Her Eyes'? Is that one of the DC movies? I think one of my other reviewers told me about that…DAMMIT, WHY CAN'T I GET TO SEE ANY OF THESE-pulls hair- Anywho, thank you SO much for the review-HUGGLES-

Keya13- hehehe XD I love short reviews! Thank you-HUGGLES-

T9- yeah…that one WAS pretty long, wasn't it XD Well, this one is SOMEWHAT shorter XD What can I say? I'm dedicated when I think my readers might just hunt me down for taking so freakin long XD -GIVES POCKY-

YumeTakato- If you think THAT was a cliffy, wait til I get to the next couple of chapters XD THOSE are gonna be cliffies-can't wait til she gets all the angry reviews ranting about how much her readers will hurt her if she doesn't update soon XD- Anywho, Thankies for the review-HUGGLES-

MoonShadowWitch- Very long indeed XD I tried to update as fast as I could, but I kinda had trouble with this one again XD sorry! Thankies for the review-HUGGLES-

Silver Sky Magician- YAY! I'm so glad I didn't loose you-HUGGLES-

Song-Obsessed1- O.O WHOA! WAIT! Don't cry-huggles- tis okay! See? I updated! Everything's well in the world again! Thankies for reviewing-HUGGLES-

Kyllir- Yay! I'm glad I got to make you happy! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well as the last one! Thankies for reviewing-HUGGLES-

Holli- I'm glad you like it so far! Sadly, he wont remember completely for a long while from now XD Thankies for reviewing-HUGGLES-

Chalicity- Yay! Another really cute, short review-huggles the chibi review- I love these! Thankies for reviewing-HUGGLES-

Chocolate covered Videl- A doctor? Dear, I'm not even out of middle school yet! Yupp! That's right, I'm fourteen! I'm pretty sure by now letting my age out in this chapter wont hurt my number of readers seeing as I have WAY over the usual (w00t!) , so I see no reason in letting a few of you know XD I do owe most of the information about doctors and how they work I get from Hustino-kun, who is the greatest XD Thankies for reviewing-HUGGLES-

Kaitou1412Kid- I'm glad you like it! Tis updated now, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter too! Thankies for reviewing-HUGGLES-

Dagron- Devil Stu -SNORT- that's great! I have to write that down! XD Thank you so much for the information you gave me about the teacher and the movie! Tis extremely appreciated! I might be looking for your help in later chapters, if you don't mind of course XD Thankies for reviewing-HUGGLES-

Mandi-Solo- Aww, that's okay! Don't feel bad about knowing the name XD I still love hearing from you-huggles- Thankies for reviewing-MORE HUGGLES-

Emily- o.O Holy…I'm scared! You reviewed more then once with more then two words attached! THE END OF THE WORLD IS COMING! IT IS THE END-runs around flailing her arms- …-stops- Thankies for reviewing-HUGGLES-

Case-closed-lover-1- Well, if the only thing you don't like about this story is the untimely updates, then I can live with that! XD Thankies for reviewing-HUGGLE-

Lady Bethany- I don't mind the late review, as long as you remember to! That's all that matters to me! Am I too late to catch you with a cold? I'm sorry if I missed it XD -feels bad- well, Thankies for reviewing-HUGGLES-

Blu's mom- I can not believe you read this-HUGGLES- THANK YOU! And you liked it! YAY! Thankies for reviewing-HUGGLES-

Kenny-kun- Happy does not even DISCRIBE how OVERJOYED I am that you took the time to read this! (TK: you had a freakin WHIP to his back!) you shh! Anywho, THANK YOU SO FREAKIN MUCH FOR REVIEWING-HUGGLES-

Denebola Topas- o.o CRAP! I'M KILLING MY REIVEWERS-goes and gets you a cup of water- see? I updated! All better-gives you the cup of water and makes sure you drink all of it- Better, right? PLEASE GET BETTER! I DON'T WANNA KILL MY READERS! XD Thankies for reviewing-HUGGLES-

Magnet-Rose- Yay! You liked it! Hehe Writers block no more! LET US ALL REJOICE! Thankies SO much for being my hundredth review-HUGGLES! AND GIVES A COOKIE-

Blu: well, that's everyone! YOU ALL ROCK MY SOCKS!

Also, before I forget, any of you can now see what Onistu and Aneki look like! I did a picture of each on my website. Just take out the spaces of the web addresses below and look for two pictures marked 'Teiboku Aneki' and 'Teiboku Onistu'!

Http . fanart . theotaku . com / artist . php ? user id 28264

hope you like them, and don't hesitate to check out my other art!

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE WONDERFUL REVIEWS-HUGGLES-

Ku-na!


	6. Philosophy in a Ramen Bowl

Blu: HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY!

TK: little late there, Blu-chan

Blu: you shh!

I'm gonna make this quick caz I'm sure the very few of you that actually read these before starting the chapter want to get to the damn thing without going thru a lot of rambling. This chapter is dedicated to Emily-chan, a good friend of mine at school who I've ranted to about this fic way too often. It was her birthday last Friday, and altho I wanted to finish the chapter before or on her birthday, the major writers block I've just now recently gotten out of kept me from making much of a dent in time.

So, happy birthday, Emily! Loves yah much, babe!

Read, Review, and Wait, the three things that happen on this site.

.-.-.-.-.-.

**Chapter Five: Philosophy in a Ramen Bowl**

.-.-.-.-.-.

_Ding-Dong…_

He shifted his weight nervously as the sound of the doorbell echoed eerily through the large, Western style house in front of him. From the size of the place, it'd be hard not to tell doctors lived there, or at least someone equally as wealthy.

The thing was _huge_.

It had to be a good two stories with Lord knows how many rooms…

He quickly looked away from the house to keep the déjà vu feeling that was starting to tickle his senses at bay. He had seen a house like this before.

Many times before.

It was almost as strong a feeling as when he looked directly at Rachel.

Which, by the way, he had decided was _not _a good idea.

Not a good idea _what so ever_.

It wasn't that he didn't like looking at Rachel. Hell, most of the time he wanted to stare at her all day.

It was just he didn't like the feeling he had started getting when he looked at her.

Actually, there was more than one feeling. It was more like a hundred different feelings, all going on at the same time. At first it had started off small with the blushes and embarrassed glances, but now a hurricane of emotion hit him every time he caught her out of the corner of his eye! It was insane! Some of the feelings he could name like 'joy', 'affection', 'respect'. Others…well, those felt more like a whole bunch of feelings all smushed into a blender together and mixed inside out until you couldn't tell one from the other.

Somewhere along the way, though, one of those feelings had separated itself from the group and was hell bent on making itself known.

Regret.

He had no clue _what_ exactly he was regretting-what he had done to her that could possibly make him feel _this_ bad about it-but what ever it was, it must have been a doosey, because whenever he caught her eye, he wanted to scream out how sorry he was and that he's an idiot and he should be hanged or shot or something to that affect and…

Yeah, you get the picture why he didn't want to look at her.

So there he was, standing on the porch of a house he couldn't look at without the possibility of fainting again, holding hands with the beautiful woman he couldn't make eye-contact with.

For obvious reasons, of course.

He let out a sigh.

_God_, his life _sucked_…

Rachel reached out and rang the door bell again. This time it was answered by a gruff "I'm comin', dammit!" before the door was wrenched open to reveal one Teiboku Aneki, her black hair hanging loosely from a red hair tie near the top of her head. She wore a large, red t-shirt which had a slightly darker flame design across the chest, framing the name of what he assumed was a rock band, a much bolder statement then the scrubs he had seen her in a few days back. His eyes leveled down a bit to find a pair of baggy jeans probably a little too big for her being held up by a black leather belt.

"They're Onistu's," Aneki said as she crossed her legs and leaned lazily on the door frame, as if reading his mind. "Everything else of mine was in the wash." He blushed, embarrassed he had been caught staring at a married woman's…uh, lower half, and looked down at his shoes. Aneki gave an amused laugh before ruffling his hair. "Why don't you two come in?" the doctor asked, moving to the side to let them both through. He and Rachel nodded, both mumbling 'thank you's awkwardly as they went. Aneki laughed a little more before ushering them into the living room.

It wasn't exactly what you'd expect to see in the house of two doctors.

A worn looking couch sat in the middle of the room, a large TV across from it. Hooked up to the TV was a Sony Playstation (remember, this show was set back in 1996. There wasn't much else BUT a Playstation), its controller cords tangled and knotted next to it. Near the TV, propped against the wall, was the largest collection of video games he had ever seen (as far as he knew, that is). Old ones…new ones…some he had never even heard of…

"Yah like games, kid?" he heard Aneki ask him, obviously knowing what he was openly gaping at. He nodded, although he wasn't sure if he really liked them or not. He assumed he did, but assuming didn't feel a solid enough answer for him… "Well, maybe some time Onistu or I will have to take you on, head-to-head," the doctor finished, smiling widely down at him. "I'll be right back."

Before he or Rachel could respond to that last statement, Dr. Aneki had left down one of the hallways, leaving the two of them in the living room. For a while he just stood where he was, feeling out of place in the strange house. Finally, Rachel broke the ice and sat down on the couch. He followed her lead and took another look around the room.

There were a few things he had missed the first time he gave this room a once-over, that being the boxes scattered around the room and a ways into and down the hallway. _Why would there be boxes lying around the house of two doctors?_ he thought to himself, his hands finding their way to his pockets. _It's almost as if someone had just moved in. But Aneki and Onistu are married, right? Have they just gotten married? Had one of them just moved in with the other? Did they both move to a bigger house?_

Feeling curiosity getting the better of him, he hopped back off the couch only to pause when his head began to spin. He waited for the dizziness to pass before moving over to one of few closed boxes to start his inspection.

It was a fairly large box, probably a little bigger then his head. The top was closed with an excessive amount of duck tape, _way_ more than one would normally use to close a box. He stared at the overlapping tape for a moment before looking around the room. None of the other boxes were this heavily sealed. His eyes drifted back to the box in front of him.

Now what made this box so special?

Before he could stop himself, he reached around the box and attempted to pick it up. To his surprise, it was amazingly light.

"Conan!" he heard Rachel exclaim in a forced, almost embarrassed, sounding whisper. "Put that down; it's not yours!"

"Have you noticed that this box has more tape on it then the other ones do?" he asked, ignoring her requests. He tilted his head to the side, as if looking at the problem at quite literally a different angle would help him come to some sort of conclusion faster. "Now why do you think that is…"

"I mean it, Conan, put it down!" his guardian insisted. He had the distinct feeling that was code for 'you're-embarrassing-me'. "This is no time to be playing detective!"

'Playing detective', huh?

For some reason that statement was so ironic it made him want to laugh.

Or cry.

He decided to find some middle ground between the two and grinned.

"I bet they're hiding something in here…"

"Like my underwear?" asked a gruff, feminine voice right behind him.

_U-underwear!-?_

He dropped the box so fast, you would think it had bit him.

There was no crash of something breaking or explosive bang when box hit the ground. It just kind of bounced a little before setting on its side. He slowly turned around to see Aneki standing over him, tapping her foot impatiently.

"I know you kids don't start learning kanji(1) for a good couple years," she started, her eyes bearing down on him like a lioness ready to strike, "but I would think you'd at least know what the word 'underwear' looks like." Before he could respond, Aneki bent over, grabbed up the box, and tucked it protectively under her arm.

"B-but it has so much tape on it!" he stammered, by now bright red.

"How else do you think I'd keep my husband out of it?" Aneki asked, shifting her weight to her other hip. "Keep out of my stuff, kid," she added before hauling the box back down the hall way, muttering a blue streak of oaths under her breath as she went.

"I told you so," Rachel half said, half giggled when he sat down next to her on the couch, tomato red. "But noooo…"

"I didn't see the words on it, okay?" he snapped back, trying to hide his embarrassment. Not that the fact his face was only getting a darker shade of red was helping him any. "It-it was on the opposite side of where I was looking."

"Don't take that tone with me, young man," Rachel barked back. He tried to ignore that she even took the effort to wave her finger in his face. "Be respectful of your elders! What happened to 'Miss Rachel' anyways?"

He opened his mouth but closed it a moment later after realizing he had nothing to say.

Why _did_ he stop calling her that? A few days ago, he had felt a little too distant from her to call her just by her first name. Why had that changed?

He scrunched up his face in thought. When was the last time he had called her 'Miss Rachel'? That's right, it had been in the kitchen right before he had that drea-

"You're such a troublemaker, Conan Edogawa."

He looked up at Rachel to see her smiling at him. Not that sad smile he had only ever seen. It was an actual happy, joyful smile.

Not knowing what to make of it, he smiled back.

"Welp, no harm done," Aneki's voice suddenly broke in, interrupting the moment he and Rachel had just been sharing. "Let's blow this joint." They both looked up at the same time to see the young doctor wearing a navy blue zip-up hoodie over her red t-shirt, her hands in its pockets, smiling at the two of them. When her crooked grin landed on him, he felt an embarrassed blush creep back onto his cheeks. Again the doctor laughed good-naturedly. "Don't sweat it kid," she insured him, coming over to ruffle his hair for the second time. "I said 'no harm done'. It's not like you actually saw what was _in_ the box, right?"

His blush somehow managed to get darker.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Where are we going exactly?" he asked, resting his hands in his pockets to keep them warm. Even if it was a little after one in the afternoon, the overcast above the city kept out the warm rays of the sun. Luckily, it hadn't rained today that he knew of, so that was always a plus.

"The best darn place to eat in all of Tokyo," Aneki replied easily, her eyes not moving from out in front of her. He waited for her elaborate on that last statement, but after a few moments of silence, he realized she probably wasn't going to.

Despite his growing curiosity on exactly where this place was/what it was, he let that answer slide.

He had decided, maybe between hospital and now, he wasn't exactly sure, that he liked talking with both Onistu and his wife. Onistu was the first person he had met after waking up. He knew he hadn't known either of the Teibokus before the 'crash' seeing as that stupid déjà vu feeling never popped up around either of them, but he felt very close to them both, mainly Onistu.

That's why he wanted to talk to that doctor so badly. He didn't want to tell Rachel about all the…things he had been seeing because she'd think he was insane and worry about him more then he knew she already was. He probably _could _tell Aneki, but not while Rachel was around…

Why was everything so complicated for him?-!

"We're here!" Aneki announced, breaking his train of thought. He looked around, expecting to see a five star restaurant or some fancy café.

There weren't any on this street…

"Where?" he asked.

"_Here_," the doctor replied, motioning in front of her. His eyes followed where she was motioning to and his jaw dropped.

A ramen bar(2).

She took them to a _ramen_ _bar_.

Not even an _indoor _ramen bar either!

What a cheap doctor!

"I came here a lot while in college," Aneki explained, sliding onto one of the stools set up in front of the little counter dividing where the customer sits and where the food was prepared. Despite the small amount of disappointment both he and Rachel were feeling, they both took a seat beside the doctor, him in between the two older girls. "Best damn food I've ever had. Ain't that right, Aoi?"

He looked around. Who was Aneki talking to? There was no one around by him, her and Rachel…

"Aneki!"

A woman probably around Aneki's age suddenly popped up behind the bar, a spoon in one hand and an empty bowl in the other. He gave a shout of surprise and almost fell off of his stool. Luckily, Aneki grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and righted him before he could take another tumble

"Aoi!" Aneki scolded as she set him back upright in his seat. "You're giving people heart attacks again!" The woman, who he guessed was this 'Aoi', frowned, putting her hands on her hips.

"Well, that's a fine 'hello'," Aoi said, wagging the spoon in her hand in the doctor's face. "You don't come to eat for over two months, not even to ask 'how yah doin', and suddenly you drop by with _more_ people, expecting me to feed them! Really!"

"Aoi," Aneki said, pushing the spoon out of her face, "all you _do_ isfeed people. It's your _job_."

"I don't _have _to feed you," the other woman protested while crossing her exposed arms. "I _could_ let you and your _friends_ starve." Aoi turned a disapproving gaze on him and Rachel, both of whom instantly tensed. "And who are _they_?" she asked, gesturing to him and Rachel with the wooden spoon. "They're not more of those sleazy friends of yours, are they? The last time you brought some, one tried to grab my a-"

"They're my **patients**!" Aneki cut in, standing up out of her seat. "Besides, Conan's _seven_! Are you blind, woman?-!"

"Oh." Aoi dropped her arm. "Never mind then. You'll be wanting the usual, right?"

He looked back between Aneki and the woman behind the bar. What the hell was that all about?-! Now he was more curious than ever about who exactly this Aneki woman was, not to mention this new Aoi character.

Aneki rolled her eyes. "Yes, spicy chicken is fine," the doctor muttered, sitting back down.

"Oriental with hot sauce, please," he heard Rachel say. Aoi nodded, jotting down something quickly on a pad of paper laying on her side of the desk before looking up to him. It took him a minute to realize she was waiting for him to order.

"Uh…same," he muttered nervously. All three women rose their eyebrows.

"You sure, kid?" Aneki asked.

"Yeah," Rachel commented. "Shouldn't you skip the hot sauce part? You've never been much for spicy food."

"I-I haven't?" he asked sheepishly. _You learn something new every day…_

"Miso," Aoi chimed. He looked up. "You look like a miso person to me, Conan!" the woman said happily, winking at him. This was quite a change from the screaming fit Aoi had just been into a few minutes prior. He just shrugged.

"Sure," he said. "Miso sounds good."

"Miso it is!" Aoi said as she clapped her hands together happily before turning around to start making their food.

"So, _Conan_, how have things been going?" Aneki asked. He blinked in surprised. That was the first time she'd ever used his name…

"Uh…okay, I guess…" he replied, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. The doctor raised a slim eyebrow at him before looking away to pick one of the chopstick packets out of the cup in front of her.

"Funny, that's not what Rachel here told me," Aneki said as she broke the chopsticks apart. "She said you took a fall in the bathroom after playing _soccer_."

"Oh…," he let out a nervous laugh. "Right…that…" He suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

"Yeah, _that_," Aneki said in a sickeningly sweet tone. "Which brings me to ask you, what in the world were you THINKING?-!" the doctor roared, pointing her chopsticks in his face. "Playing such an active sport in your condition?-! Are you INSANE?-! No wonder you passed out!" Aneki let out a frustrated groan and dropped her head onto the counter. "New rules!" she announced while pointing her finger in the air to emphasize her point. "No sports! No school! You," her finger was suddenly waving around in his general direction, "do not so much as go down a flight of _stairs _by yourself, yah got that?-! I don't wanna hear any more of this passing out businesses, okay? Not on my watch!"

"O-okay," he managed weakly.

"And you," Aneki's finger swung around to point at Rachel. "I need you to keep this kid from takin' any more spills, got it? No slacking! He needs to be under your twenty-four hour surveillance! We don't need him making his condition any worse then it already is by cracking his thick head open." The seriousness of the topic was broken when Aoi let out a roar of laughter.

"And people wonder why you have a nickname like 'big sister'," Aoi snickered, interrupting Aneki's speech.

"Aoi," Aneki grunted through clenched teeth, "shut yer trap!"

"Nickname?" he asked. "You mean 'Aneki' is just a nickname?"

The doctor let out a sigh. "'Aneki' is a nickname I got in high school," she explained. "My real name is Aki, but if I catch yah using it…" The doctor let the threat hang.

"I remember Onistu calling you that," he said, kind of proud he had something to remember.

"He's the _only_ one who gets to call me that," the young doctor explained. "And you!" She paused to bounce her chopsticks off the back of Aoi's head. "You keep yer mouth shut when I'm trying to make a point!"

"Owww!" Aoi whined, rubbing the place where Aneki threw the chopsticks at her. "That hurt, Aneki! You're so mean."

"Shuddup and cook," the doctor barked before taking out a new set of chopsticks and breaking them apart. Rachel gave a snicker, which earned her a glare from Aneki. The younger woman immediately clamped her mouth shut and looked away, obviously embarrassed.

For a while everyone was quiet. Rachel was awkwardly drumming her fingers on the counter, her eyes distant, obviously in thought about something. Aoi was humming some oddly familiar theme to herself and every so often she'd mutter out a few random lyrics while she stirred. The doctor to his left busied herself with weaving her chopsticks in between the fingers of her left hand. He merely sat and let everything slowly sink in.

"How's Onistu doing?" Aoi asked finally, breaking the silence surrounding them. "I haven't seen him since the wedding. Does he still have that goofy smile he was wearing during the reception still plastered over his face?"

"Not really," Aneki replied. "One of his patients died; Mr. Soima."

"Oh, that's too bad then," the server muttered. "And such a nice man, too. Usually stopped by on Tuesdays during his lunch break for beef flavored and a light beer."

"I'm surprised you remembered him," the doctor said with a short laugh. "You usually can't keep anyone straight."

"Oh, but he always gave me such a nice tip!" Aoi said happily. Aneki rolled her eyes, but was smiling now, the chopsticks she was handling still spinning around in her left hand.

Her left hand…

"You're left handed!" he declared, pointing accusingly at Aneki. The doctor nearly fell out of her seat.

"Y-yes, I am," she replied unsteadily as she sat back upright in her seat. "What about it?"

"It's very uncommon to see a left handed doctor," he stated.

"You got a somethin' against lefties, kid?" Aneki asked playfully.

"Oh, no, no!" he replied hurriedly, waving off the idea. "I just saw you spinning your chopsticks around and I thought-" Aneki cut him off with a snort laugh.

"You are very perceptive, kid," she stated, pausing to do her trade mark ruffling of his hair, "you know that?"

"Conan has always been perceptive," Rachel cut in, wrapping an arm around him. His senses suddenly went wild at her touch and he couldn't keep himself from blushing. "He's always getting in my dad's way when he's working on a case, but I know he's just trying to help."

"Really?" Aneki asked. "This kid's that good a detective?"

"My little detective Conan," Rachel replied with a smile, tightening her grip around him.

"Food's done!"

The mood was broken as Aoi plopped three bowls down in front of them. Rachel instantly let go of him to take a whiff of her ramen. "It smells heavenly!" she announced before grabbing her own set of chopsticks. Hesitantly, he sniffed his own bowl. He pulled back as the salty scent filled his nostrils.

"Dig in, kid!" Aneki instructed. Before he could protest, a pair of chopsticks had been smacked into his hands. "It ain't gonna bite you! It's ramen!"

"Mmmm, good!" Aoi agreed in almost a baby voice. He wrinkled his nose.

What was he, seven?

…wait, yes he was.

Shaking off the feeling of total weirdness that thought brought him, he fished a few noodles out of the broth, blew on them a bit, and stuffed them into his mouth. Instantly his mouth began to burn, not from heat but from a spicy taste.

DEFINATELY NOT MISO!

Oh god, his taste buds were on fire! After a moment his eyes started to water. He had to get this out of his mouth!

"Hey," he heard Aneki say after a moment. "This isn't spicy chicken! This is miso."

"W-water!" he yelled. "I need water!" Aoi quickly fished a water bottle out of the small fridge behind the bar to give to him. He grabbed it away and chugged half of it down.

"Aoi, you klutz!" Aneki roared as she switched her bowl with his, "you mixed up the orders again!"

"I'm sorry, Conan!" Aoi said. "You know what, this ones on the house, free of charge."

"I-its really okay," he said after a moment.

"It better be free of charge, yah loony," Aneki replied, not paying attention to what he had said. She opened her mouth to say something else but she was interrupted by a loud beeping sound coming from her jeans which made all four of them jump. The doctor removed a small pager out of her front pocket, took one look at it and swore. "They need me at the hospital," she explained. "Huge fire downtown, lots injured, not enough on call, you get the picture. Onistu's on his way to pick me up. I left him a note to say I'd be here." She gave him a Rachel a sympathetic look. "I wish we could give you to a ride back but-"

"It's alright," Rachel assured her. "We'll be fine. I still have enough money to get us a ride home on the bus."

"You sure?"

"Aneki!"

The three of them turned around to see a black Honda pull up, its window rolled down to expose the driver, Teiboku Onistu. "Aneki, let's go!" the male doctor called, motioning for her to get in.

"That was quick," he thought out loud.

"We only live a few blocks away," Aneki replied as she dug through the wallet she suddenly had in her hands.

"I said it was on the house, Aneki," Aoi scolded. The doctor nodded and put the wallet away.

"Aneki, let's go!" Onistu repeated, sounding a little agitated.

"I'm coming!" his wife called back. She turned back to him and Rachel and gave them a crooked grin. "Sorry we couldn't get much done, kid," she said to him. "You'll have to drop by later so we can actually do this check-up thing, eh?" He nodded awkwardly just as Onistu honked the Honda's horn. "I'm comin', dammit!" Aneki yelled. She gave him one last look before making a mad dash for the car.

"Later you two!" Aneki called out of the passenger's window just before the Honda sped off down the road.

He let out a sigh. He still didn't have to tell Aneki about those visions after all…

What a relief.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Conan was doing it again. He was avoiding making eye-contact with her.

She had noticed him doing it before, on the bus ride to the Teiboku's. She'd glance down at him, see him side glancing up at her, then he'd blush and look away quickly. It was actually pretty cute.

Not that it was the first time he had done it either.

She could remember back tothe first time she had met the little boy. He had acted almost exactly the same, always looking at her when he thought she couldn't see him, then looking away when she caught him. It always puzzled her to why he would be so fascinated with her. Now that she thought about it, Conan had always given her looks like that, not just when they had just first met.

She shook her head, trying to clear it a little. Conan was just a very intuitive little boy. He liked studying stuff, and, although they felt so much like a family, she often forgot exactly how new she really was to him.

…Maybe that was because he had always seemed so comfortable around her from the start. Conan had had no problem adjusting to her and her father's lifestyles, almost…

…Almost like he already knew them…

She shook her head again, this time a little faster. No, no, that couldn't be it. Conan had just come to Tokyo. He didn't know anybody when they had first met, besides of course his uncle, the professor. There was no way he could have possibly known her.

…_r-right?_

Despite herself, she glanced down at the little boy she was holding hands with. He was staring down at his feet, which were idly kicking a pebble around in front of him.

Now that she thought about it, he was being a lot less clingy then he had been the last time they had 'first met', always talking, asking her all sorts of questions about Ji-

No, she was not going to bring _him_ into this.

…low-life, sonova-

"Rachel."

Jolted from her thoughts, she looked down to see the little boy smiling up at her. "Look," he instructed before pointing in front of him a ways. She followed his little finger to find them approaching a small flower shop, rows of pots filled with vine like plants framing the walkway to the open door. She opened her mouth to ask why of all things the child had pointed out a flower shop when she felt something cool and wet fall onto her head. Surprised, she looked up to catch another few drops in the face, one hitting her in the eye.

Rain drops.

It took her a moment to realize Conan had started to drag her towards the flower shop, which, she just knew he had noticed right off the bat, had a overhanging roof they could stand under. Not two seconds after the two of them had reached the shop had it started to really come down.

The rain, that is.

And it came down hard.

Instructing Conan he was to stay where he was or she'd make good a few choice threats, she ran inside the little flower shop. Only seconds after she had stepped inside the door was she jumped by one of the employees, who was intent on pushing a bouquet or seven on her. "I'm not in here for flowers," she explained. "I just came in here because I was wondering if you sell umbrellas. My kid brother and I got stuck in the sudden shower and-" She was cut off when the slightly older woman produced a mini umbrella and offered it to her. "Thank you," she said, reaching into her purse. The woman smiled at her warmly as they exchanged the money for the umbrella before she ran back out the door, expecting to see a certain little brown haired boy waiting where he she told him to.

Instead he was standing out in the rain beside one of the vine filled flower pots.

"Conan!" she almost yelled, only pausing to hurriedly open their new umbrella before running out to cover him. "Conan, I told you to wait by the door! You'll catch a cold out here in the rain!"

"Do you like these flowers?" he asked, ignoring her motherly rambles to hold up one of the pots for her to see. "I can't remember what kind you like but…" Conan dropped off a little to hold it a little higher for her to see. "See, they're the same color as your eyes, so I thought…" She gingerly picked up the pot from him and noticed for the first time the small, blue flowers branching out of the vines overflowing out of the pot.

Such a deep blue…

"I love them," she said finally, smiling down at the little boy.

And Conan smiled back.

"I'll go pay for them!" he said in rushed tone before speeding back into the flower shop. She just stood frozen where she stood, cradling the pot of 'whatever's with both hands while cupping the handle of her new umbrella.

That smile…

It was so familiar, but it wasn't Conan's…

…He had never worn a smile like that before…

Still a little spell bound, she glanced down at the flowers in her arms. She had been wrong before, thinking it was all vines. They just had very flimsy stems that draped over the sides of the pot, framing the pots rim. Most of the flowers hadn't even opened yet, but the ones that were…

That color of blue, it reminded her so much of…something.

Maybe Conan's eyes…or was it Jimmy's?

Holding the flowers a little closer, she bent her head down into the cushion of stems and took in the scent of the flowers and falling rain for a moment.

"Rachel!"

Her head bolted up to see the little boy come tearing out of the flower shop. "Rachel! Guess what I just found out!" he chimed happily, suddenly in a brighter mood then she was used to seeing him. She couldn't help but notice the almost mischievous smirk plastered over his face. "Guess!"

"I don't know, Conan," she said, shaking her head a little to emphasize the point. "What?"

"I just remembered what those flowers were called when I was paying the woman running the flower shop," Conan said, starting to walk in the direction they were going. "They're not native here in Japan." He dropped off there, huddling a little closer to her to stay under the umbrella. They walked for a moment in silence, her still clutching the flowers to her chest, the dirt from which was probably staining her blouse, while some how able to keep the umbrella above them while he tailed next to her. He was the one to break their silence, but not with words but a laugh.

A dry, forced laugh.

"What is it?" she asked, looking down at him.

"It's just really…ironic," the boy replied, shaking his head. "The name of the flowers…its so ironic its sad."

"What's its name?" she asked almost anxiously.

"'Forget me nots'."

She looked down at him, a little shocked by how truly ironic it actually turned out to be. Conan didn't look up, he just kept walking, smiling that smile that for some reason put her on edge. The pair walked slowly down the streets, side by side, until they were a good half a block from her father's office before one of them, Conan, broke the silence.

"Rachel, will you promise me something?"

She didn't answer.

She heard Conan ask the question; somewhere in her subconscious, she registered he had been talking to her, but her mind was not focused on him. She stopped where she was, her mouth slightly open. Barely, faintly, she heard her little somewhat adopted brother say something to her, but she couldn't hear any words over the beating of her heart in her ears.

There, in front of her house, leaning lazily against a neighboring building, was a young man about her age, wearing a uniform from her school, rain catching in his dark brown hair. In one of his hands was a large bouquet of flowers.

"J-Jimmy?" she heard herself whisper.

The figure slowly turned to face her.

She dropped the flower pot.

.-.-.-.-.-.

_**Review Responses: **_

Lady Mirror-of course tis more fun to make him go to school, but he wont be anymore. You know why? Caz I hate writing in the POVs of seven-year-olds. It hurts my brain X.x

Elhustino- Aww, someone beat you! -huggles- tis okay! Thankies for all the complements! You flatter me way too much, you know that? I still don't like the mirror scene or the dream, but I guess I can't fight your logic forever. -sticks tongue out-

Magnet-Rose- Ph34r t3h n0-f4c3! PH34R! okay, I'm done. Anywho, glorious review and yessh, cookies for you!

T9-chan- Yessh, t9, you ARE gonna get kicked now -KICK- I know I mess up a lot, okay? Grr…But Anywho, glad you still like-ith the chapter-ith!

GuruGuru214- Aww, that's okay! -huggles- I still liked your help with this one! -huggles- I hope you got your fill of the OCs in this chapter, because they'll be out for a while again…

Silver Sky Magician- oO Don't DIE! See? Updated! Took me a while, but I DID update!

My mom- woo! You put some punctuation in it this time! I'm so proud of you XD

Emily- 'Update soon or else'? Is that a _threat_? I don't know if I should wish you a happy birthday now…aww hell, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! -HUGGLES-

The Amazing Spell Checker- hehehe Long time reader, first time caller? Thankies for taking the effort this time around. Reviews really are great things to get, and I happen to love the random pointless ones. Those and really short reviews. I love those too XD I hope to hear from you again!

SheWhoNamedHerMealwormKaito- Ooh, but you're thinking a head of me there, hon. Don't worry, Conan will remember 'The Big One' in due time, but it'll be a while XD How's Kaito doing, btw?

Dagron- XD Dammit! -didn't know about the Eva's cooking sucking ass part- I REALLY need to watch all the anime! I've actually moved from the place the fan arts used to be posted and haven't actually posted them on the new site yet, so sadly no one else can see them! I need to get them up really badly XD Thankies for the review and offer for the help. I might just need it XD

YumeTakato- I WANT TO SEE THAT MOVIE! Has every one of my readers seen it but me?-! Tis really not fair I tell you! Anywho, the plot actually does feel like tis going somewhere, now. Soon it'll be moving actually quite fast. I really can't wait to get the later chapters…

Sadie Janelle- this is the best story you've ever read? Wow, I'm really flattered! Thanks for reviewing!

Hero-o-donuts- Updated, so I hope you like it

Life's Shadow- to tell you the truth, I have no clue what that mirror scene is about myself. Conan's just seeing things caz his mind's so messed up, I think. Thankies for reviewing!

Inumaru12huggles- Updated for your reading pleasure! Hope you enjoy! Thankies for the review!

Kyllir- I'm glad I keep making your day! It makes my day to make your day because making ones day is the best thing one can do in their day and…ow, my head hurts…

Denebola Topas- I'm so glad you're alive again! Tis really good to hear. I think it actually slowed back down in this chapter, but, yessh, more things will be happening. Thankies for the review!

Kisara Koi- wow! Thank you so much for ranking my story so high! And Thankies so much for the review!

Southpaw- Hi again! It was fun talking to you over AIM; we should do it again some time XD Yessh, more and more pieces are falling into place. Let's see how long it'll take, shall we?

Holli- You people are always a step ahead of me. Conan may or may not get to talk to Onistu about all this crap, but you're right, very interesting conversation indeed! Entertaining as well…

Naruke- Yessh, my mother is reading this story. Isn't it great? Anywho, thank you for taking the time to read this. It really means a lot to me that you like it so much. Love yah babe! -huggles- Thankies for reading!

InuBuggy- woo! You're done! Happy dance! -does a happy dance- I'm glad you liked it so much and thank you for helping me out a little with this chapter. Love yah -huggles-

Blu: well, that's everybody! Thank you all again for reading and reviewing!

TK: …that cliffy was horrid, Blu-chan.

Blu: wasn't it tho? Anywho, I have a favor that I need all your loyal reviewers to do for me. Will you?

Okay, all I want you to do is wish Emily-chan a happy birthday in your review. That's not too much to ask, is it? Thankies much guys!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY!

.-.-.-.-.-.

(1): Kanji is a form of writing in Japan, tho I'm sure you already knew that. I've read (so don't sue me if I'm wrong) that elementary students do not learn Kanji, the basic form of writing, but instead they learn Hiragana, which is a dumbed down version of Kanji. They don't learn all the Kanji until they are in middle school. Therefore, Aneki would not expect a first grader to know what the Kanji for 'underwear' is because he wouldn't have learned it yet. Conan, being Jimmy, does know Kanji, but he does not see the writing because tis on the other side of the box (explained later).

(2): if you don't know what a ramen bar is, go read the first chapter of Naruto. You'll understand it then…


	7. To Fuss over Flowers

Blu: Ugh, my muse hates me.

I'm so very sorry for the horribly late update. Four months…jeez. This wont EVER happen again. That's just horrid. Anyway, tis almost over a month late, but this chapter was meant to be a joint birthday present to T9 and Hustino-kun, both of whom have helped me out with this story more than they'll could ever know. I don't know how I could thank you guys…

Anyways, TK won't be around for a while…he has forsaken me…

Oh, and ps; this chapter and the next one WERE going to be one and the same, but I just couldn't seem to get the rest out of me for the time being, so these two chapters are going to be kinda short. Also, this chapter is basically just leading into the next, not much happens, but tis needed, so PLEASE bare with...

Sorry again for the wait…

.-.-.-.-.-.

**Chapter Six: To Fuss over Flowers**

.-.-.-.-.-.

There, in front of her house, leaning lazily against a neighboring building, was a young man about her age, wearing a uniform from her school, rain catching in his dark brown hair. In one of his hands was a large bouquet of flowers.

"J-Jimmy?" she heard herself whisper.

The figure slowly turned to face her.

She dropped the flower pot.

The sound of the crash made both her and the figure jump. He removed himself from the wall he had been leaning on and ran over to her, giving her her first real look at his face.

Glasses.

He was wearing glasses.

Jimmy doesn't wear glasses!

All of her excitement bled out of her as the man rushed over to her and started to clean up the shattered pot at her feet. Somewhat in a daze, she dropped to her knees and started to do the same. As if in some cliché romance film, both of them went for the same piece at once, their hands falling on the other's. Each jerked away from the other's touch and returned to grabbing the other shards, leaving that particular piece alone for a while.

"Are-are you alright?" the man asked in a quiet voice. "I mean, you did drop a pot and everything…"

"Butterfingers," she lied quickly. What was she going to say? 'I thought you were my long lost boyfriend?' Yeah.

Right.

Slowly, the two of them sorted all the pieces into a pile, neither of them saying anything more. They must have been quite a sight to others passing on the street. Two teenagers, sopping wet, bent over on their hands in knees picking up pieces of pottery out of a little mound of mud and vines.

Hilarious.

Finally, all the shards had been picked out of the muck that was once potting soil and were set into a somewhat neat pile. "I uh…bought these for you," the man said, breaking the silence between them by producing the large bouquet she had seen him with before. "I know it's a little late, but I wanted to…to apologize for ditching you, you know, Saturday," he muttered sheepishly. Hesitantly, she took the flowers from him, not quite sure what he had meant by 'ditching her Saturday'.

Saturday…

Saturday! The amusement park! The blind dates that never showed!

"So you're the blind date Serena set up for me!" she exclaimed as she stood, pausing only to brush the soil off her skirt.

"Yeah…" the man replied, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, raising to his feet as well. "I kinda got scared--cold feet, I guess…But I want to make it up to you!" He straightened and closed his eyes. "Rachel, would you please allow me to make it up to you by taking you out on another date?" he asked with practiced determination. A little taken back by the sudden invitation, all she could do was stare at him and open and close her mouth.

A date? She couldn't go on a date! She was in love with Jimmy, no one else…

…but that stupid detective geek hadn't called in over a month. He always had a knack of calling her right when she needed him the most, but she hadn't seen hide nor hair of that boy for far too long. Who's to say she shouldn't go out on a date, just to get to him.

What was she thinking?-! First off, Jimmy would never know, and second, what made her think he'd even care?

Caught up in her own bickering thoughts, she didn't notice the determination start to seep slowly out of the man in front of her. "No, huh?" he asked when she didn't answer, the statement bringing her out of her own thoughts. His shoulders started to sag. "Well, that's okay…I guess…umm,…keep the flowers," he motioned towards the bouquet in her arms, "I completely understand, really…"

_Now or never, girl!_

"No!" she said, grabbing his arm as he turned to go. "That's fine! I'd _love _to go on a, umm, _date_ with you,-…uh…"

Suddenly a lot more energetic, the man offered her his hand. "Megane Shinkei," he said with a soft smile, "at your service."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Lesse…

Clean desk, papers sorted, stacked and filed, hot coffee brewing, a nice big pay check…

He needed to leave Rachel and the brat behind more often.

Sighing deeply, he leaned lazily back in his chair, his feet crossed and propped on his desk in front of him. After a hard case, it felt good to relax.

He had to admit, this last one sure gave him a run for his money. Usually he'd figure out who it was, black out, and wake up shaking people's hands. This time…

He rubbed his temple. He'd hate to say it, let alone think it, but if it wasn't for the brat, he'd have never finished that case. When ever he got stuck, he found himself thinking about how the squirt would be running around, asking random questions and pointing out things that he had overlooked.

He had to hand it to the kid. He sure knew how to get into his head.

Without Conan around, he had to think harder; check everything twice. It was frustrating. He just couldn't help thinking to himself, 'What would the brat say about this? What would the pest do about that?' It was extremely humiliating even _considering_ he needed that little rug rat around to do his job, but it was more humiliating when he started second-guessing himself without him.

The kid was coming to the next case, no freakin questions asked.

The front door flew open and then slammed shut in one fluid movement, the sudden noise in the almost silent office making him jump. Folding the newspaper he had subconsciously grabbed, he peered over the desk to see who was in such a huff.

Conan Edogawa glared up at him from his place in front of the door, already halfway out of his wet shoes. Before he could ask the first grader what put his mini-boxers in a twist, Conan yanked off the remaining sneaker, turned around and stormed upstairs, the sound of his bedroom door slamming following soon after.

"What's his problem?" he asked his '#1 PI' coffee cup before reopening his paper and returning to the article he had been scanning a minute prior. Sadly, he wasn't given the time even to find his place before the door opened and closed again.

At least who ever it was had the decency to not knock it off its hinges this time...

Sighing again, he closed the paper and set it on his desk all the while calling the whole thing a lost cause, revealing his daughter, sopping wet, her back turned to him to lock the door behind her.

"There's some guy out there lookin' for you," he told her as she turned to face him.

"Yeah," she replied, holding up a large arrangement of flowers, "we met." There was an awkward pause while Rachel removed her shoes and ruffled her damp hair. "How was your trip?" she asked while hanging up an umbrella he had never seen before.

"Okay, I guess," he admitted, shrugging a little. "It was a lot quieter then usual." That comment earned him a balled up wet coat in the gut.

"Ha ha," Rachel snapped, grabbing her coat back. "Very funny, Dad." There was a pause. "Where's Conan?" Rachel asked as she hung up her coat/registered weapon.

"Up in his room brooding most likely," he answered easily. "Seemed pretty po-ed about somethin'."

"Oh no, the flowers!" his daughter groaned. He eyed the bundle of flowers in her hands.

"What about them?"

"Not _these_ flowers!" Rachel corrected, motioning towards the ones she was holding. "Conan bought me some different flowers and I…I dropped them."

He snorted. "Butterfingers."

"It's not funny, Dad!" Rachel snapped, taking a swing at him with the bouquet. Although out of shape and practice, he ducked under her arm easily. "I think I really hurt his feelings!"

"Fine, fine," he said, his hands up in mock defeat. "But what are yah gonna do about it?" She chewed on her lip for a moment.

"I don't know," she admitted. For a moment they just looked at each other, both thinking, then he picked up his newspaper again, opened it and leaned back in his chair.

"Just go talk to him," he said, not looking up from his reopened paper. "Either that or let him sulk for a while. He'll get over it."

.-.-.-.-.-.

He slammed the door in frustration, the sound of it banging shut sending _lovely_ waves of pain through his already jumbled head. Stumbling slightly, he made his way to his to his futon, stared at it for a while, then collapsed on top of it, his head buried in his pillow.

He felt like screaming. Just let all the frustration that had built up over the past few days out in one quick burst.

Then he'd explode.

Yeah, exploding sounded good.

He rolled over and faced the ceiling. Why couldn't he catch a break? Did someone up there hate him _that_ much? It was bad enough he had amnesia for what ever damn reason, but could he have just had the _normal _amnesia?

Oh _noooo_.

He got the freaking confusing kind!

…at least he was pretty sure other people didn't go through all this crap when they got amnesia.

He shook his head. That's not the point. The point was that he had come this close-_THIS_ close-to finding some middle ground to stand on.

He had almost felt like he was where he was meant to be…with Rachel.

His eyes thinned into a glare and his hand balled up into a fist.

Then that _Shinkei_ guy had to come and ruin it.

…with better flowers, the little sonova-

"Conan?"

His head came up off the pillow for a second, his heart in his throat. It was Rachel; she was outside his door.

…wait, he was mad at her, wasn't he? Better not ruin a good chance like this to let out some pent up anger on someone…

His head fell back down onto the pillow.

"Go away," he said to the closed door, glaring out in front of him again.

"Conan? Are you…mad at me?" Rachel's voice asked through door.

He found himself smiling at that question.

She thought he was _mad_.

True, at one point, he had been _mad_, but that was a while ago.

He had gone _way _beyond _mad _now.

He was hurt, insulted mainly. His pride took a shot or two at some point, and he felt a little foolish for thinking his little pot of flowers would ever really impress her, especially coming from a little seven-year-old.

But mad? Oh _no_, Rachel. _Never_ mad.

"You don't have to say anything," Rachel said after a moment. "I understand." There was a pause and for a minute he had thought she had left when she continued. "I'm going back to school tomorrow, but I think Dr. Aneki would want you to hold off school for another week, so Dad'll be looking after you for a while…" Another pause. "Conan?"

He had his back turned to the door now. He just wanted her to go away so he could brood. A few minutes passed and he realized she was no longer outside his door.

Well, crap, now he felt bad.

Worse, actually, but now it was for a different reason. Rachel probably felt horrible now for dropping his stupid flowers.

She might even be crying…

He didn't want her to cry, although the probability she was actually crying over such a idiotic little thing was slim to none. Still, she didn't do anything that horrible and he was treating her badly over some freaking flowers.

…But he picked them out for her! They were special! More special then the other guy's flowers!

…Why in the world was he getting so worked up over this?

He shook his head and got up. He needed more sleep.

_A lot _more sleep.

Maybe if he slept for long enough, when he woke up, everything would finally start making sense again.

He made his way to his dresser. He'd just put on his pajamas and go to sleep. Yeah, that sounded like a good plan.

…Which drawer was the pajama one again?

He scratched his head. Now this was a problem. He couldn't remember which drawer held what.

Damn amnesia.

Shrugging it off, he pulled the nearest drawer open. "Well, whatcha know…" he breathed, seeing the neatly folded pairs of pajamas filling the drawer. "I was actually right for once…" He moved to take out the top pair when he noticed something white sticking out from under one of the folded sleeves. Being no match for curiosity, he removed the white thing, finding it was a photograph. On the back was written a date and the simple heading under it; '**_Cherry Blossom_**'. He turned the picture over to see three familiar faces staring back at him:

Richard's, Rachel's, and his.

All three of them were huddled under a cherry blossom tree, smiling happily and sporting peace signs towards the camera. Silently, he waited for something to happen. A memory maybe, most likely another strange vision from the point of view from one 'Jimmy Kudo'.

…But nothing happened.

He was just staring at a picture. True, he still got that weird vibe of déjà vu, the feeling of being _this _close to remembering even a little, but…nothing happened.

It was, after all, just a photograph.

He was about to just throw the photograph back into the drawer and change when he noticed more 'white things' peeking out from under the folding 'jammies. Placing the photo he was holding onto the dresser top, he reached in and removed the pajamas one at a time until the entire bottom of the drawer was exposed.

His eyes widened. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

More photographs-hundreds of them, all scattered across the bottom of the dresser drawer.

He slammed it shut.

Oh God…he understood now.

Why he felt the way he did around her-when he looked at her-touched her. Why he had this silent drive to make her happy enough to give him a real smile. Why that Shinkei bastard pissed him off so much.

The pictures, every single one of them had been of Rachel.

Oh God…

He was in _love _with her…

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Serena? What can you tell me about Megane Shinkei?"

She looked up from her paperback novel to see Rachel Moore sitting in the desk across from her, her hands resting in her lap. Closing her eyes, she shut her book with a snap.

"Why are you suddenly interested in the lesser sex, Rachel?" she asked, eyeing her friend. "You haven't finally giving up on that Kudo boy, have you?"

"No, of course not!" her friend replied quickly. Too quickly.

"Then what is it?" she asked. Rachel opened her mouth to explain, but she cut her off. "Don't tell me. Shinkei asked you out in person and, not wanting to hurt his feelings, you agreed and are now wanting to know what you go yourself into, am I right?" she asked. Rachel stared at her for a moment before nodding slowly. She closed her eyes again and turned away. "Really Rachel, do you think _that_ little of me? Do you actually think I'd sell out personal information about our fellow classmates on a whim?"

"…you would if I gave you half of my curry," Rachel replied sharply, handing over a portion of her homemade lunch. She smiled.

"Right then," she chirped, turning back around to face her karate friend. "Here's how it is. I heard from a kid in class 2B who has a sibling in 3C, which is Shinkei's home room, that he just recently transferred here from some no name small town over on the coast. Now, I _also_ heard that he's been moving around the country since his parents died and has been in seven different cities and nine different high schools," she let out a low scoff, "but let's face it, that theory is pretty farfetched. Then again-"

"That's not exactly what I meant on 'what you could tell me'," Rachel corrected, interrupting her mid-rant.

"Well, then, what _do _you want to know?"

Neither said anything for a moment as Rachel thought. Finally, the brunette came up with an answer. "What's he like? What is he interested in?"

"Well," she started, pausing to sort out all the information she had dug up on the guy before setting him and Rachel up the weekend before. "According to the girl he sits across from, he falls asleep in class a lot and mostly keeps to himself. He also owns a Game-Man and usually plays it on bus ride home, according to Yoruishi in 3A who shares the same route, so it might be a safe guess to pin him as a gamer. I also think he's something of an otaku." Rachel wrinkled her nose at that comment. She rolled her eyes. "Oh, you go for the obsessive type and you know it."

"I do not!"

"You're in denial, dear," she replied sweetly. Rachel gave her one of her trademark death glares, meaning it was time for a subject change. "How's the little kid doing?" she asked.

"_Conan_," her friend corrected, "is doing fine…I guess."

"'You guess'?" she asked. "What do you mean 'you guess'? What's wrong with him?" Rachel sighed before looking down at her palms laying face up in her lap.

"Okay, you know how I was gone the other day?" Rachel started, looking up momentarily to see her nod before going back to examining her hands. "Well…Conan fainted-in the bathroom. I stayed home to look after him while he slept it off. His head is really messed up, so he's not allowed to go back to school. I'm starting to wonder if maybe he should have stayed in the hospital…"

"Rachel, dear," she said, reaching out to pat her friend's hand, "that's not 'doing fine'."

"I know," Rachel said quietly. "I'm really scared, Serena. Conan can't remember _anything_ and he's been fainting and…this is all _my fault_."

"Nonsense," she interrupted. "You can't blame yourself. It's not going to change anything if you do." Rachel just kept looking at her lap, but she nodded, understanding what she had said.

It was time for another subject change.

"So…do you plan on making it to first base Saturday?"

"Serena!"

.-.-.-.-.-.

It had turned out to be one long, boring week.

Then again, what had he expected from having to spend the entire time with someone like _Richard_.

It wasn't that Richard was a bad person _per say_, he was just really, _really_ annoying. He was pretty sure that's how the old P.I. saw him as well, so in a strange way, they understood each other.

…Didn't mean they got along, though.

They never really fought as much as they competed. They competed over who got the last of the milk one morning (he won that one because he complained to Rachel. It paid off being cute). They competed over who got control over the remote (he lost time and again because Richard could just pick him up and throw him to the other side of the couch with one hand). They even competed over who could do brush their teeth the fastest (usually that was a draw).

The only thing he didn't know about their little games was what they were competing _for_.

Well, it didn't really matter anyways; it didn't change the fact that the week had been extremely boring.

He hadn't touched the drawer with the photos in it since first day he found them. The concept of him being in love with someone so much older then him still frightened him on some level. To tell you the truth, he knew and had known that he loved her since his waking at the hospital, but that didn't mean he was completely ready to except it. It did make sense as well as clear up a few questions he had had, but now there were even more he needed to ask.

He was in love with Rachel, he knew that now.

Which was the entire reason he came up with this harebrained plan in the first place.

He walked quickly across the street, keeping his head down, trying not to be recognized.

So what if they were ten years apart? He knew damn well he was competitive, why now would he just let some guy come in and steal something away from him.

His eyes hardened. Megane Shinkei was going _down_.

Rain poured steadily down upon him as he made his way to Tokyo tower. It wasn't a long walk from the detective agency, but he didn't feel he was in that much of a hurry. Rachel's school hadn't let out yet and according to the phone conversation he _accidentally_ heard, she'd be heading straight to Tokyo tower after school anyways. Still, despite the time he knew he had, his strides were brisk as he made a point to dart between others around him.

The grown-ups probably thought he was playing a game of some sort.

On the contrary. He was being followed.

He had noticed the prick of someone's eyes on the back of his head only half a block from the detective agency. It wasn't a very strong feeling, but it was there, and it reminded him far too much of his dream for his liking.

…The rain and the eyes…

He suppressed a visible shudder as he turned a sharp corner and broke into a jog. No one else was in the alley in front of him, and soon, not far behind him, he could hear the splashing of footsteps as they ran into the fresh puddles.

Two, no three pairs.

Now he was starting to get frightened. The careful jog suddenly became a full out dash after another corner. His followers too quickened their pace to keep up with him.

Now he was certain he was being tailed.

Ducking down another alley-way, he spotted some trash cans and kicked them over, hoping it would give him enough time to loose who ever was behind him. Sure enough the footsteps stalled and he gained a corner or two before he heard them again.

Now, while all of this was happening, two voices had made themselves known in his subconscious. The first, which he was sure had the job of yelling at him when he was being stupid, was raving on and on about how he had undermined Rachel's orders to stay inside, that he was jeopardizing his health by running around, and was, of course, being an all around idiot. At the moment he chose to ignore that particular voice as he had a feeling he usually did.

The other voice was a much louder one, and unlike the first, it only told him one thing.

"_Keep running and don't you dare turn back." _

And that voice he was planning on listening to.

That was until he tripped.

Searing pain ripped across his knee as he skid across it on the wet cement. He let out a choked cry before tumbling into his back. Sliding to a stop, he hissed an oath between his teeth, clutching his hands over his now bleeding knee-cap.

Crap! Now he was a sitting duck!

"Conan!"

Blinking, he looked up to see three familiar faces come rushing towards him. He let out an audible grown

He had gotten all worked up over the Junior Detective League.

Amy was the first to get to him, helping to prop him up. "Are you okay?" she asked, taking out her handkerchief to wrap around his wound.

"Why were you three following me?" he asked sharply. George let out a loud snort.

"We saw you come out of the detective agency when you _should_ have been in bed, _stupid_," the large boy snapped.

"I have to do something," he explained as Amy knotted off the cloth. Using the wall of the building he had fallen next to for support, although his present female classmate had offered her shoulder to lean on instead, he got to his feet and started limping the way he had come.

"Do you even know where you're going?" Mitch asked, calling after him. He didn't answer, feeling belittled in a way that he would need help from _them_. Coming to the corner he had ran around earlier, he stopped and looked in both possible directions. Which way had he come?

"Where are you going?" he heard Amy ask behind him.

"I can find it own my own, thanks," he snapped back over his shoulder. The young girl flinched at his tone. He sighed, now mad at himself for being so rude. "Sorry," he apologized quickly, rubbing his temple. He had stopped wearing the bandage just the other day, replacing it with a criss-cross of Yaiba band-aids. Apparently Yaiba used to be his favorite cartoon show.

Now he personally thought he was more nuts then before.

All the running he had just been doing was throwing him off balance. Maybe he should lay down…

No, he couldn't do that. He had to stop Shinkei.

"Do you know which way Tokyo tower is from here?" he asked finally. The trio looked at him for a moment, confused, before nodding in unison. He cracked a small smile. "Great."

.-.-.-.-.-.

**Reviewer Responses**

I'll do double next time, promise. I just want to get this chapter up as soon as possible…sorry!

Blu: Sorry for such a quick ending. I'm sure you're all quite cross with me for not updating for forever and then we I do, it just cuts off. I'm really sorry, but this chapter has been more of a chore then anything else, and the sooner I get it out of my save drive and out in the open, the sooner the story can continue already. I'll try to get the next chapter up quickly so you wont have to hang for forever.

Also, wish Hustino-kun and T9-chan uber late happy birthdays if you can!


	8. Kiss and Tell

A/n: Wow! Long time no see, peoples! Jeez, nearly a year has pasted since the last update? I hope you don't hate me too much, but I wouldn't blame you XD This year has been tough for me tho, and it really bothers me that it hindered my best story so much. Sometimes things like this are unavoidable, you know? I hope it will never come to such a long wait again, which is why I've already started on the next chapter instead of waiting like I used to. A year is just plain stupid.

And don't worry. I am not and will not drop FMN. The following chapters might take longer to write than the first ones (rough scenes ahead, me lads!), but I love this story and I'm very excited to have it updated again.

Ack, listen to me go on and on XD Please, don't mind me and just go read the chapter, like you haven't already!

.-.-.-.-.-.

**Chapter Seven: Kiss and Tell **

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Does everyone understand what we're doing?"

The Junior Detective League, squatting in front of him, nodded in unison. Doing the same back to them, he motioned to them with a flick of his hand, saying, "Good, then. To your posts." Again they bowed their heads, murmuring a collective 'Right!' before turning around and peeking through the leaves and cracks of their hiding place.

He let out an inward sigh before turning his back to the three to do the same. Such children; they no doubt thought this was all some silly game. How had George put it earlier? 'Just like an RPG'? Ugh…he had such a _headache_ at the moment.

Needless to say, he hadn't been able to ditch the three squirts after having them direct him to Toto tower. They had insisted, begged, whined and even resorted to threatening his health (which had come from George, of course) to get him to let them tag along. Eventually he had caved and, more than willing to pour salt into an open wound, the three ended up also dragging out his reason for being there in the first place.

Their reaction, however, was quite the surprise.

They were almost as pissed about Shinkei as he was.

Keyword being 'almost'.

Apparently, Rachel was already taken by someone they seemed to like quite a bit, although who exactly the person was had been left unsaid. To have her prancing around with someone else was the highest form of blasphemy, not that any of them had ever heard of someone having an _affair_ before or anything. But beside that, the weirdest part was his reaction to the news of the mystery boyfriend.

He had actually _blushed_. He had no clue why, but hearing that the girl he loved already found someone else put him on top of the freaking world.

It was almost as if _he_ was the one she loved.

Or maybe Rachel was _really_ in love with Jimmy Kudo, the kid who he was apparently being _possessed_ by.

Okay, now that had been farfetched, even for him.

Anyway, after giving into letting the Detective League tag along, one of them had mentioned them needing a plan of action and suddenly all eyes were on him. Quite honestly, he had had nothing. Rachel was already late by the time they got there, so there was no telling when she'd show up or if she was actually there or not. Lucky for him, though, she actually hadn't arrived yet. Still, with limited resources and the migraine of the century, he didn't have the slightest of what they should do.

So he improvised.

Trying to sound professional, he had laid down one of the most vague plans known to man. Apparently, it consisted of three stages, although he hadn't thought it past stage one and a half. So, to make everyone's lives a little easier, he basically just told them they'd hide out and look for Rachel and when they saw her, he'd tell them the rest of the plan.

Which he didn't have.

Yeah, best day ever right here.

Oh, and did he mention his knee was still driving him insane? Because it was. Luckily they had already replaced Amy's makeshift band-aid of a handkerchief with one of the real deal. The young girl had insisted on him keeping said handkerchief, by the way. If he didn't know any better he'd say the poor thing had a crush on him.

That being sarcasm, of course.

So, all of that had lead him to where he was now, crouched behind a little ring of potted plants placed conveniently in front of the elevators and stair wells on the top floor of the infamous Toto Tower. This way, they'd defiantly see Rachel and her blind date when they arrived.

Speaking of which…

Where the hell was she?-! She should have been there nearly an hour ago! God, he hoped they hadn't changed their plans. Not after he had-

The elevator doors dinged, signaling the car's arrival to the current floor, the sound cutting off the nice little internal monologue he had going on. He, along with the rest of the seven-year-olds squatting around him, held their breaths, waiting for the doors to open. Just maybe…

"…and it turned out to be the doctor all along!" came a familiar voice, flowing out of the elevator doorway. Rachel Moore stepped out and onto the carpet of the top floor lobby, a bewildered Shinkei, sporting a new, white bandage across a slightly swelled cheek, a moment behind. Her teenaged companion scratched his head, confused.

"Wait, so you're saying that the doctor was the son of the pianist?" asked Shinkei as the two walked closer towards the four's hiding place. He and the children instinctively ducked down further into the shrubbery as the teens passed, making their way towards the large windows lining the outside of the tower.

"Yupp," Rachel replied.

_What are they talking about?_ he thought.

"How could the doctor be the son of the guy if he was a she?" Rachel's date made a face. "This is confusing."

"_Psst! Conan!_" Amy whispered in his ear. He batted her away.

_I want to hear what they're saying…it seems familiar!_

"It was the son in disguise," his guardian explained, leaning on the railing between her and the glass. "He fooled everyone into thinking he was a she." Shinkei only shook his head and sighed.

"Your dad takes on some twisted cases," the teen replied. "Just hearing about them makes _my_ head hurt."

"_Conan! What's the plan?-!_" Amy asked again. He raised a finger to his lips, giving her a look of annoyance. She shrunk back, pouting and rejected. He simply ignored her.

Something flickered on the edges of his vision, but he ignored that as well.

"Wow…" he heard Shinkei breath, staring over the landscape that was Tokyo. "It's absolutely huge."

"I know," Rachel agreed. "It...it must be a lot different from where you were from."

"Hmm?"

"I heard you were from a small fishing town on the coast," she explained. Shinkei didn't answer but moved to lean on the railing next to his date, his hand placed awkwardly on hers.

He could feel himself baring his teeth. _That _cocky_ bastard_.

"It's not…all that different." Shinkei's voice was almost too soft for him to hear. The older boy now completely blocked his view of Rachel, leaning forward towards her.

_He'll _regret_ that later._

"Umm…Shinkei?" Rachel's voice came up from behind the tall teen.

"Yes, Rachel?"

"You're…really close."

That comment made the boy stumble back in embarrassment. Shinkei mumbled an apology before distancing himself as much as possible from his date, a bright beat red. He couldn't help but smirk.

Rachel recovered from the shock of their sudden…moment together fairly quickly from what he could see, and began to dig in her pockets for something. "Want to do some sightseeing?" she asked. Shinkei turned towards her, his face not visible from where he sat. He could only guess the young man had made a confused look from the smile that then split Rachel's face. "Come on," she said, grabbing her blind date's arm and dragging him towards a sightseeing telescope nailed to the floor a few meters away.

Checking to make sure he wouldn't be seen, he followed.

"_Conan!_" came a collective whisper of surprise behind him from the Junior Detective League. Again, the tots were ignored.

He ducked behind another plant just as Rachel put a few coins into the slot, opening the eyepiece for viewing. "…used to do this all the time," he heard, catching the tail end of what she had been saying. "Here," she took a step back, offering Shinkei the telescope, "you can look first."

"A-alright," the teen replied, positioning himself awkwardly in front of the device. As the teen bent down to look into the eye slots, his vision started to fade in and out, realizing too late exactly what had been dancing on the edge of it a few minutes prior.

"I wonder," Shinkei said, playfully, "do you think I'll be able to see my house from here?"

_"I wonder," he said, playfully, "do you think I'll be able to see my house from here?"_

_"You could look, Jimmy," she replied, leaning on the glass, "but I doubt it." _

He smiled wickedly, suddenly given an idea.

_"'Op, there it is," he lied, mustering a matter-o-fact tone. "You really can see it!" _

"You're lying," she replied.

_"No, seriously," he played, pointing out in front of him. "You really can." She gave a scoff before motioning to take control of the telescope._

_"Let me see then," she demanded. _

"Nuh-uh," he said, swiveling the telescope around on its iron pillar and putting his foot up to her stomach lightly to stop her, "I wanna check if I could see your house too first."

_"You just don't want me to see because you know you're lying," she snapped haughtily as she took a step back into her original spot._

_"Nope, that's not it either!" he sang, spinning the telescope around with one hand and staring into it intently. He twisted from one way to another, back and forth again until stopping suddenly before letting out a triumphant, "A-ha!" _

_"What?" she gasped. He didn't say anything, although he was about to burst out laughing. "What is it?"_

_"Just a bird," he replied simply, causing his female companion to let out a groan. "I found your house though. Your dad just opened one of the windows on the office floor."_

_"God, Jimmy, you are a _horrible _liar."_

"Fine," he replied, somehow managing to keep not only a straight face but also to look a little hurt. "If you don't believe me," he stepped away from the telescope and offered it to her, "take a look for yourself."

_She let out a 'humph', her longish brown hair bouncing slightly as she turned her nose up. "I think I will," she snapped, taking his place and peering into the eye slots. Her now nicely distracted, he quietly slipped away._

_He had noticed, upon arriving to Toto tower, a vending machine near the elevator. As he dug in his pockets for a few crumpled bills he knew he had hidden _somewhere_ in the confines of his clothing, he congratulated himself on a job well done._

_Phase 1 of his plan was over, now for phase 2. _

_After he obtaining his prizes, he retraced his steps to his companion, who luckily hadn't moved and was still staring through the telescope, the very definition of obliviousness. He approached quietly before stopping in front of his target. Taking one of the items he had just purchased from his pocket, he bent down and pressed the cold metal to his friend's cheek._

_She let out a shriek of surprise before spinning around, arm at the ready to pound him into the pavement. _

_"Here," he said, stopping her mid swing by holding out the soda in his hand to her, "for you." _

_She-_

"Conan? _Conan_!"

Instantly he snapped out of the trance. As feeling returned to him, he realized he hadn't been breathing, his lungs screaming for air. He gasped and choked on the lump still lodged in his throat. He started to cough.

"Breathe, Conan!"

A hand began to rub his back as the coughing fit slowed. He blinked, realizing he had been staring at his hands this whole time, or more importantly, at his white knuckles. His hands themselves were numb.

Forcing himself to calm down, he slowly unclenched his fists, feeling returning to them as he released the carpet he had been clinging to for dear life.

Carpet...that's right, he was inside.

He was in Toto tower.

So who…

He looked up and let out a startled gasp, falling backwards onto his tiny butt.

In front of him, squatted on her heels, sat the woman who had just been in his vision with Jimmy…only, _there's no way_.

"Conan?" she asked, reaching out to cup his face in her hand. He wanted to pull away, scared, but she continued to speak. "It's me, Conan, don't worry."

He swallowed. _No_, it couldn't _be._

"R-Rachel?" he asked, his voice sounding extremely small.

"Yes, Conan," she replied, pulling him into a sheltering hug, "I'm right here." As she began to stroke his hair, his mind was racing.

It couldn't be…it just _couldn't_! But…the resemblance was uncanny!

Was Rachel _really_ the girl with Jimmy Kudo?

.-.-.-.-.-.

_**He was running again, running in the rain. **_

_**He was soaked, steam puffing out of his mouth and nose into the freezing air with each breath. It was so cold...He wanted to stop and rest a while, maybe take some time to rub the feeling back into his hands, but he pushed on. **_

_**Behind him, the Darkness was gaining. He had been running from it for so long.**_

_**He was so tired...**_

_**His footing slipped. He stumbled, but caught himself and kept going. **_

_**But that's all the Darkness needed to close the distance. Just one slip up…**_

_**It had caught him. **_

_**His world suddenly went black. The rain stopped beating against his body and the pavement beneath his feet. It was completely silent. **_

_**The Darkness had won.**_

**_Suddenly, fire exploded inside of his chest sending the Darkness retreating again behind him, confused--disoriented. Seeing his chance, he started running again, a little slower now; he was twice as weighed by the fire spreading through his veins as he had the cold numbing his skin. _**

_**It had become so warm…so unbearably hot. **_

_**He ripped off the coat he was wearing. **_

_**Still he burned, every pore aflame. **_

_**With a groan, he collapsed in a heap, the Darkness swallowing him whole again. **_

_**Alone in the Darkness, he could still feel the burning, his bones melting inside of him…**_

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Hello, this is Rachel Moore. Oh hi, yes, uh, I called to ask whether or not Amy got home safely…She did? That's good. Yes…yes…Yes, it was good speaking to you too. Yes, goodbye."

Hanging up the phone, she let out the long sigh that had slowly built up over the equally long day. She pushed the phone and its cradle away, making room for her folded arms, which then she placed her head upon. Nestling her face into the makeshift pillow, she tried not to think about all she had gone through that day.

Of course, when was the last time her mind ever listened to her, anyways?

It really had started out as a good day. Conan was finally talking to her again and had given her the usual hug and goodbye on her leaving that morning, which, she had to admit, she had missed. It didn't feel right having the little guy mad at her, with it being their first fight and all. Luckily, Conan seemed to get over it quick, but it still bothered her. Serena did pester her even more about her date that evening than usual, trying to get one last swing in, but she let even that slide.

After school was probably when things started to go wrong.

Strike one: Shinkei had been late.

She didn't know why, and he hadn't told her, but for some reason, she had spent the good half of an hour waiting in front of the school for him. Luckily, he had shown up and repaid his tardiness with another bouquet of flowers, so she only bapped him playfully for making her wait.

From then on the date went fairly smoothly. They chatted, accidentally bumped shoulders (which she, on no accord of her own mind you, found cute) and somehow managed to make each other laugh. The conversation, she had to admit though, was one-sided. She had done most of the talking, mainly about her father's cases. Shinkei seemed interested though: more so than when their conversation was leaning towards his past, for however brief that had lasted.

It really had been fun, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't enjoying their interaction because of being with Shinkei.

She was really only thinking about Jimmy.

Letting out a groan, she shoved her face deeper into her arms and covered the top of her head with her hands. She felt horrible, treating someone like that, replacing him with someone she liked better in her mind.

It wasn't hard to see the resemblance, though. They did look so much alike! The messy hair, the awkward smile. She even wanted to say that they laughed the same, but now that she thought about it, it was only barely. She just couldn't help if everything about Shinkei reminded her about Jimmy! Well, almost everything.

It was the glasses that really threw her off.

Still, when it came right down to it, she had been enjoying Shinkei's company for all the wrong reasons. She guessed they could consider each other friends…but nothing beyond that, at least on her part.

Which lead to strike two: Shinkei's advances.

Talk about unwanted contact. All of the sudden they had been only inches away, close enough, that if he wanted, Shinkei could have...

"UGH!" She curled up in her seat, hands clutching her head. She should _not_ be thinking that way.

But it was just so wrong!

After a moment of withering in disgust at the thought of kissing _Shinkei_ and then spending another moment scolding herself for being so cruel as to think such things in the first place, she flopped sideways over her father's large rolling work-chair, legs thrown over one arm and her shoulders and head laying across the other. Needless to say, this whole situation just made her feel miserable.

Don't get her wrong, she liked Shinkei, just, you know, not _that_ way. And no matter how nice the guy was, she just didn't feel that way about him.

At all.

Ever.

Letting out another sigh, she, using her father's desk, pushed herself around with her feet to look out the large windows lining the outside wall of her father's office. Hard rain beat against the outside, rushing down the glass in sheets. For a moment she stared upside-down, mesmerized by the steady, fast-paced beating as the rain fell, her blood rushing to her head. Getting light headed, she righted herself and twisted the chair back around to face the desk.

Silently, her mind traced itself back to its original topic.

Time for strike three:

Conan.

She had half a mind to beat the stuffing out of that little boy when she had spotted him crouched behind the potted plant at the tower. That was, at least, until he doubled over and started to tremble uncontrollably. A moment later Amy (who, surprise surprise, was also hiding nearby, with the rest of the Junior Detective League in tow no less) let out a frightened scream and rushed to Conan's side, shaking him roughly and calling his name as if trying to wake him. Things got really scary when he didn't respond.

And then Conan stopped breathing.

She had been so scared at this point; she hadn't even wanted to touch him. All she could do was call out his name. It didn't stop Amy though. The little seven-year-old continued to rock him, looking all the while like she was about to burst into tears when suddenly Conan seemed to 'come to'. Soon after which, he passed out again.

Later, she found out from the little band of detectives that something similar had happened the day they had played soccer in the park, right before Conan's episode in the bathroom. He had been fine one minute, and then, all of the sudden, had tensed up, fallen to his knees and started shaking. He wouldn't respond to anyone either, as if in a trance.

She was so worried about Conan. Curling into herself, she wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her head on her knees. She felt so useless. What could she do for the little boy? Ever since the accident, he seemed so far out of her reach. So much so, she wanted to cry. He just…

He wasn't the same person anymore…

As if on cue, a scream erupted from upstairs, sending her into a mad panic to get out of the chair. This led to her tripping, her knee bumping painfully onto the table. Her now throbbing kneecap, however, didn't slow her down in the least. Seconds later she had already cleared both the door to the stairwell and the stairs leading up to their living quarters themselves, leading to her then throwing open their front door and tearing down the hallway.

There was no doubt in her mind whose scream that was…

She burst breathlessly through Conan's bedroom door to find the boy sitting straight up in his bed, head cradled in his hands. His breathing was loud and ragged, like he had just been scared out of his wits. A thin layer of sweat was visible covering his body from what little light shone in through the now wide-open doorway.

Conan didn't seem to notice, though. He didn't even look up as she cautiously approached him, unsure what to make of the scene before her.

"Dammit," she heard him hiss through his teeth as one of his hands ran its way across his mess of brown hair. "They're getting worse."

"Conan?" she asked quietly. He didn't seem to hear her. "Conan," she repeated, now a little louder. That got the boy to jump.

"Rachel!" he gasped, turning to stare at her in surprise. Something then seemed to click in his eyes and he quickly looked away.

"Conan, is everything alright?" she asked as she sat down next to the child on the floor. He shook his head, still refusing to look at her.

"I'm fine," the boy replied quickly, staring at his hands, balled into fists around his bed sheets.

"You're lying," she replied just as quickly, moving to run a hand through the boy's hair comfortingly. He instantly shrunk away from her touch. "Conan, please tell me what's wrong," she pleaded. "Are you still mad at me?" He didn't respond, but something told her he wasn't. Again she reacted out to pull the hair out of his face. This time the boy stiffened at her touch, but didn't pull away. "I'm just so worried about you…" she whispered, not sure he even heard her.

For a moment Conan didn't say anything. She could see in his eyes he was trying to figure something out, the way they darted back and forth in front of him without really seeing. He was trying to make up his mind.

…But what about?

"Rachel," he said finally, the tone of his voice making her jump. He sounded so mature…no, so _old_. She'd only heard him use this tone a few other times, but it always meant the same thing: he was being serious. Without warning, he then turned his big blue eyes on her, the orbs filled with an emotion she couldn't read. She almost wanted to say it was fear. "Rachel, I've always been Conan Edogawa, right?" he asked, his voice almost urgent. "I mean, all the time you've known me, I've been Conan?" She stared at him, bewildered by his sudden outburst.

At first, she couldn't respond. She really didn't know how to. It was such a strange question…

But it wasn't like she hadn't seen it coming. She had watched Conan since his awakening at the hospital…he was always questioning himself. Always…

It was just a matter of time.

"Oh, Conan," she whispered, her arms wrapping around the boy and pulling him into a strong hug. Again the boy instantly stiffened but then just as quickly relaxed, his small arms wrapping around her neck to return the hug. "I know it's hard for you…" she continued. "It must be so hard…but you are who you are. You're Conan…

"_My_ Conan."

At that the little boy looked up, surprised. She smiled back, trying her best to look convinced of herself.

Why did she get the feeling she wasn't pulling it off?

Still looking up at her, slightly awestruck, Conan opened his mouth as if to say something, but whatever words were meant to come out were silenced as a bright flash of lightning filled the room, followed only a moment after by a booming clap of thunder. Frightened, her grip around the little boy instantly tightened. Conan let out a small gasp.

"Rachel," he groaned, "too tight! Can't-" he gasped again, "-Breathe!" Realizing the child's plight, she released him and quickly began apologizing. She had barely finished before the lightning struck again with the thunder right behind, closer and faster than before. She had to keep herself in check so not to choke her little friend again.

Then, for a long while, they just sat and listened to the storm outside. Conan eventually moved from his place in bed and over into her lap, no doubt more for her benefit than his own. After all, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out she was afraid of storms.

Even one with amnesia.

Then the lights went out.

It was subtle, seeing as their backs were to the door and nothing had been turned on in the room, but they both knew. There had been a flash outside then suddenly the light wasn't streaming in through the door any more. Hesitantly, she got up, wary not to do so too fast for Conan's sake, and tried the light switch by the door.

_Click._

…Nothing.

_Click. Click._

Still nothing.

_Click. Click. Click. Click. Click._

Now she was just being silly.

"I'll go find a flashlight," she announced to the now barely visible boy kneeing on his sheets.

"Okay," Conan replied simply.

Using the wall as a guide, she made her way slowly down the hall and into the living room. Then the wall dropped out and she was left groping blindly in the dark. Dad was out cold either in his room or someplace else, so no use calling for his help. _You should know this room like the back of your hand_, she scolded herself. _But you don't, and it's dark, and your going to end up hurting yourself._

As if on cue, her shin bumped painfully into their table. Piercing waves of pain ran up her leg and into her already sore kneecap. She let out a yelp and doubled over to nurse the wound. Sure, she'd gotten worse, but it that didn't keep it from hurting!

Just a moment later, another sound broke the silence of the dark house. She gave a jump, startled by the high-pitched ringing of the phone. After groping blindly for it on the table for a few moments with no luck, she realized it had instead been knocked off by her rather clumsy march through the living room a few moments prior. Now sore and embarrassed, she moved her search to the floor. Seconds later she had found her prize and quickly held it to her ear.

"H-hello?" she said, albeit a little shakily. A loud burst of static blared out from the earpiece; she instantly shrunk away from the noise. After a moment, though, she put the phone back up to her ear, surprised to hear a familiar voice on the other end trying to speak around the static, which (lucky her) had become at least a little quieter.

"Rachel…?" came Shinkei's voice. It seemed far off, like he was speaking through a speakerphone or from a distance away from the mouthpiece. "...Rachel…?" he repeated, the static fading in and out around him as he spoke. No, not from a distance…it was more like if through cotton. Or water…

"H-hi," she stuttered.

"I…to talk…you...about today," said the voice on the other end, most of what he was saying being lost. "…Sorry…everything. Thank yo…for giving…a secon…chance..." As the teen's words were lost here and there, she scrunched up her face, trying her best to decipher what exactly he could be meaning to say. Absently she noticed how creepy this sounded, the static across the line eating more and more away at his words as Shinkei spoke. She opened her mouth to tell him she couldn't understand him but a flash of lightening outside made her jump, followed quickly by a large clap of thunder, right over head. "Please…com…my house…marrow...Something…show you." Hurriedly she grabbed a pen that was luckily nearby and jotted down on her arm (her father hated when she did this) the bits of the address that followed, her eyes adjusted enough to the darkness to at least make out her own arm in front of her face. "Rach…chel?" She opened her mouth to reply again.

But then the line went dead.

For a moment she just sat in the darkness of her living room, severely freaked out by the creepiness of the conversation she had just taken part in. It seemed surreal, like something out of a horror film.

Then she had an even more frightening thought:

She hadn't given Shinkei her phone number.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Sometimes she really, _really_ hated her job. Okay, so most wouldn't call it a _job_, per say, but what else did she have? It had just started out as a part time thing she took on for extra cash and some how completely engulfed her life.

And she _hated _it.

She hadn't at first, of course. At first, she had _loved_ the idea. I mean, she loved dogs, right? Couldn't get enough of dogs. So, maybe, she should start a dog-care service, you know, to earn a little dough on the side? Sounds like a good deal, right?

Wrong.

Dead wrong.

It's funny how fast something you love can become something you loath.

Sadly, she had to do it now. She had no choice in the matter. People were paying good money for her to watch their mutts for whatever reason. What had started as a part-time hobby had quickly become the basis of her existence and she just had to suck it up and deal with it.

Sadly, there was no turning back.

She really hated the fact it was raining, too. It had been for the last week or so and, dammit, it was starting to get on her nerves. It was a pain walking all these stupid dogs at once as it was, she didn't need to have to deal with the wet doggie smell for the next week on top of that. Still, rain or shine, she had to walk these dumb dogs, lest she'd be waking up to multiple stains on her carpet.

Looking out the window into the pitch black of the street, she felt her stomach drop a little.

"Nor rain nor sleet nor dead of night…"

This would be when Tsune would make a crack about how she must have been a mail man in a past life.

She just rubbed her face tiredly as she pulled on her raincoat, already muddy from the last couple nights of walk-duty. Time to round up all the dogs. It only took a few minutes but, being in a foul mood to begin with, it felt like it was an eternity before they got out the door.

Just a quick trip to the park, nothing too serious. The mutts were frightened by the storm though. Please, God, don't let them relieve themselves on the sidewalk.

The rain began to get heavier and heavier as she directed the horde of pooches towards the nearest park. Why, oh, why hadn't she just gone out earlier? Stupid Tsune, distracting her from her duties! It wasn't that she didn't like hanging around with one of her best friends most of the day or anything, but look where goofing off put her:

Soaking wet, in the middle of a goddamned hurricane, picking up dog poo.

Did she mention she hated her job? Because she did. Lots and lots.

Finally they got to the park, half of their journey now complete. Frowning, miserable and cold, she directed the sopping dogs to a patch of trees and grass. Luckily they got the idea of what was expected of them without too much prodding. Well, all but one little wet mess of fur. A poor little pocket pooch insisted on clinging as close to her as possible.

Now, contrary to what the previous paragraphs would lead you to believe, she was not a hatful person. She was not heartless or made of stone, and when that little dog looked up at her, just as wet and miserable and cold as she was, and whimpered, she instantly scooped it up, fitted it between her and her raincoat and rounded up the rest to go home.

And she then remembered why she liked dogs.

They liked you back.

In a much better mood, despite still being wet and cold and in a storm, she and her dogs headed back to the house.

Until, of course, the big Doberman at the front of the pack decided he liked the smell of another street better and took off down said street in a dead run, his friends all too eager to follow and her, poor little her, on the wrong end of the leash, was carried along for the ride. The pocket pooch, claws digging into her sweatshirt, whimpered pathetically.

She couldn't agree more.

"Stop!" She ordered mid-flight, her wet hair sticking to her face and over her eyes. With all her strength, she screamed and tugged on the leashes as she basically water-skied across the slippery pavement. "I mean it! Stop!"

But they didn't.

And on they flew, the dogs leading the way and her fighting to keep her balance. After a few minutes, whether out of exhaustion, pity or some higher force she would have to remember to thank later, the dogs _finally_ slowed to a stop. More than a bit frazzled, she rubbed her face and fixed her wet hair with her free hand.

"What a trip," she muttered, panting along with her dogs. Soon she caught her breath and, hesitantly, took a look around.

The power had blown out in this portion of the city, which included her house, making it nearly impossible to know exactly where she had ended up at. By some miracle, though, the street lamps had stayed on. Because of the orange-tinted light they gave off, she was able to distinguish her surroundings, which, luckily for her, she recognized. She found herself on the street she had taken to get to the market when the road by her house had been closed for construction a few months ago. At least she knew how to get back.

Calming the dogs, she turned them around to head home, and then froze as a flash of orange caught her eye.

Something was coming down the street. For the moment she let her imagination get away with her, she almost believed it was some kind of monster, a demon even. Then the rational side of her brain kicked in and pointed out that no, it was in fact a car (and she would have to remember to give Tsune a nice slug on the arm for filling her head with those fantasy comics). Still, even after realizing it was nothing more than a vehicle, she couldn't seem to get her feet to move. Why was a car, no, a truck she realized as it drove under another one of the street lamps, driving around in this horrid weather? And with its head lights off no less. She continued to watch until it had driven into one of the neighboring driveways and into the garage. Even after it had disappeared, she continued to stare on, perplexed.

"Well, that was weird," she muttered, not knowing if she was talking to the pooch or herself. It gave a yip of agreement at any rate.

-.-.-.-.-

"Why do I have to come again?"

He gave his so-called big sister a side long glace, waiting for a response. Rachel, however, was still occupied with the slip of paper cupped in her hands, her blue eyes darting across its surface over and over again. "Are you trying to memorize it?" he asked in a flat tone, unused to being completely ignored by the young woman. Again his question was lost to deaf ears. Getting frustrated, he gave the hem of her blouse a tug, calling her name loudly while doing so.

"What?" Rachel asked after jolting from her stupor.

"I asked why I had to come along," he repeated, eyes set in a glare beneath his glasses.

"Because _you_ were the one who ruined our date yesterday," the highschooler snapped back, returning the glare. He rolled his eyes. "You will apologize, Conan!" Rachel said. She then whipped out the paper again. "Now help me look for Shinkei's house."

For a moment he contemplated the thought of being a total prick, just acting his 'age' and being a brat for his guardian. He could whine and complain about not wanting to come in the first place and say nasty things about Shinkei and her. Probably call them 'poopy-head' or something.

But he would rather eat glass then act like a seven-year-old.

Even if he was one.

…Especially if he was one.

So, sighing, he muttered in agreement and helped the love of his life search for her soon-to-be boyfriend's house.

They must have wandered down four different blocks before finally finding the darn place. He suspected all of their trouble derived from the fact that Rachel had originally written down the address on her _hand_ in the middle of a _pitch-black room_, but he knew he was on thin ice and said nothing about it.

Speaking of last night, it looked like this part of town was still without power, even though theirs at the agency had been restored. Come to think of it, the news this morning had reported that the estimated time for when the electricity would return for this part of the city had been late morning. If this was so, this block should be getting theirs back any time now.

While he pondered over such thoughts, Rachel had already approached the door and rung the doorbell. There was no reply. She was about to ring it again as he wandered back to her side.

"Is he not home?" the older girl wondered out loud. "Or is this the wrong house, too…" Ignoring her, he stepped forward and gave the door an experimental push. To his amazement, it swung open effortlessly. "Conan!" Rachel hissed, using the same tone she had used at the doctor's house. Once again ignoring her, he pushed the rest of the door open and slipped into the house, closing the door behind him.

Inside was unusually pitch black. For a moment, he simply stood there, letting his eyes adjust to the sudden change of lighting. Soon he could make out the grey blobs of furniture and continued deeper into the house. Rachel was only a step behind him, whispering words of discouragement to him, trying to persuade him to return to her side so they could leave.

These got fainter and fainter as he wandered into another room.

By the sounds his shoes made on hitting the floor, he could tell he had just stepped into a tiled room. This put him either in the kitchen or the bathroom, which he couldn't tell right away. Continuing further, he found that the room was much larger than any bathroom found in a house this size. He had to be in the kitchen.

A few steps later, his knee bumped into something else on the floor. A wave of pain shot up his leg from the wound he had. Hissing through his teeth, he crumbled to the floor and clutched his knee; hands falling on the large Yaiba Band-Aid Rachel had placed there this morning.

As if on cue, the lights in the room suddenly flared on, blinding him. He struggled out an oath and shielded his eyes with his hands. Soon his eyes readjusted and he looked down to find exactly what he had stumbled into. It was a simple washing bucket, filled half way with murky looking water. Some cloth was lying piled at the bottom. At first he assumed it to be a washcloth but after drawing it out, he found it to be a t-shirt.

"That's odd…" he thought out loud. "Why wash a t-shirt in a pail of water when you could just put it in the washing machine?" Pulling the shirt the rest of the way out, he held it by the sleeves to examine it, taking no notice to the fact it was dripping all over the floor. Soon he found some strange stains near the center and left sleeve of the shirt. It was faint, but it almost looked like traces of…

"Blood?"

Just as the word left his lips, a horrific scream erupted from somewhere else in the house.

His mind instantly went to Rachel.

Discarding the shirt back into the bucket, he rushed out of the kitchen. He was too occupied with worry to realize that the rest of the house lights had also been restored. "Rachel!" he called, trying frantically to figure out where it was in the house that the shriek had come from. His questions were soon answered when he found Rachel pressed against the wall beside an open door, vomiting. Before he could ask what had made her so frightened that she'd become physically ill, his eyes drifted into the room behind the door.

Blood stained the four walls of the room, instantly recognized as a bathroom. It was splattered in ways only a struggled could produce. And, lying chopped and mangled in the bathtub was Shinkei.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Get used to the cliffhangers, peoples, I have plenty for you in store.

Oh, and since FF . Net likes messing with me, I guess I'll have to do reviewer responses their way. Over the next couple days/weeks (I can never tell with my life XD), reviewers from chapter six to now can expect an email from me responding to their wondrous words! If you aren't an FF . Net member, please leave your email in your review so I can thank you for you glorious reviews!


	9. No Place For A

Blu: hey guys. I'm not even gonna try and give you an excuse for the lateness of this. In all honesty, I wasn't even going to finish it. I still don't know why I ended up finishing it. This may very well be the last update, but who knows? I mean, I've risen from the dead before, right?

Either way, I appreciate and love anyone who reads this. Reviews this. And again, I'm sorry.

Read, Review and Wait, the three things that happen on this site.

.-.-.-.-.-.

**Chapter Eight: No Place For A...  
**

.-.-.-.-.-.

It wasn't until early afternoon that the police station got its power back. Until then, every available window had been thrown open and if you were unlucky enough to be left in an office without one, your door was open and you resorted to reading by flashlight. He had been one of the unlucky, his teeth clenched around a miniature flashlight until the florescent took up buzzing again.

And if he heard one more comment about how he looked stooped over his files with that stupid flashlight in his mouth, he would fire the lot of them. Or just fire a round at them. It depended on the comment.

Luckily, none of the other officers were given the chance, seeing as soon as the power returned, they got their first phone call of the day. Spitting the damnable device out of his mouth, he picked up the phone from its cradle and answered in a gruff, "Inspector Meguire here."

"There's been a murder!" screamed a familiar on the other end. He literally did a double take.

"Conan?" he asked.

All other activity in the station skidded to a stop at the mention of the miniature detective.

"Uh…yes, that's my name," came the confused response. "Who is this?"

"Meguire, silly boy!" he replied. "What's wrong, Conan? You hit your head or somethin'?"

There was a pause on the other end followed by an uncharacteristic chuckle. "You have no idea," Conan finally said. "I'll explain when you get down here."

"Yes, 'course," he said, nodding. "Where's the murder?"

And the station returned to life.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Setting the phone back down on the receiver, his mind returned to the strange conversation he had just taken part in. How was it that the police station knew him by name? Did he get into that much trouble?

No, that wasn't likely. Maybe it had something to do with his apparent membership into the Junior Detective League, or was it possible that he simply accompanied Richard to many of his cases? Shaking his head, he silently decided he'd just ask the Inspector once he and his men arrived. That'd be the most logical course of action, anyways.

Right now…

He looked over his shoulder to where Rachel was sitting, wiping her mouth and eyes. She had curled into herself, face buried in Amy's hanky he was lucky enough to have brought with him.

"Rachel," he said, hopping off the stool he had used to reach the phone. "Rachel, will you be alright?" She didn't reply, even after he had placed his small hand onto her shoulder. It was obvious she had gone into shock.

Poor Rachel…

…why hadn't he been affected like she was by all this?

He was _seven_. Shouldn't he be just as torn up about this as she was, if not more? She'd lived with a detective all her life after all. Rachel should be used to murder scenes. Why was it then that he was so calm and collected?

There were just too many questions…

Going back to the phone, he decided to make one more call. After dialing the number, he impatiently waited for them to pick up.

"Whadaya want?!" came Richard's obviously drunken voice a few seconds later. Quickly, he pulled the phone away from his ear to keep his eardrums from exploding.

"There's been a murder," he replied quickly. "Sober up and get your butt down here-"

"Yah don' talk tah me like that, yah damn brat!" the so called private-eye barked from the agency.

"Just get down here!" he snapped back. "Rachel's a wreck and if you're half the detective you preach you are, you could at least find who killed her friend!"

After a moment of silence following that little outburst, a quiet, "What's the address?" was Richard's only reply.

Only seconds after repeating their location to the questionable detective, a knock came from the front door. Muttering a quick goodbye to Richard, he slammed the phone down and rushed to the front room and threw open the door. Behind it was a rather large man in a tan trench coat and matching hat, his police badge in plain view. The man wore a very stern expression he suspected he used to intimidate the criminals he dealt with, but before he could analyze it any further, the man's frown had broken into a half-smile.

"Hey there, Conan," the man said, head bowing slightly. He continued to stare up at him for a moment before extending his hand. The man, looking confused, slowly took it.

"Hello," he said, shaking the man's hand. "You already know me, but what's your name?"

"I'm…Inspector Meguire," the man, apparently the same one he spoke to on the phone, replied slowly. "Conan, what is all this?"

"I have amnesia, Inspector," he replied simply, as if it were some trivial piece of information. He then let go of the Inspector's hand and bowed slightly. "It's nice to meet you. The body is in the bathroom."

.-.-.-.-.-.

"So…what exactly happened last night?"

Tsune rose an eyebrow at her as they walked. "I mean, I know you said you got lost."

"I did _not_ get lost," she replied quickly, becoming red in the face. "I was _dragged_ down the street!"

"Like that's much better," snorted her friend. Sighing theatrically, her short-haired friend laid a hand on her shoulder. "You poor dear," Tsune sighed.

"It's not that big of a deal," she replied quickly, adjusting the bag of groceries she had thrown over her shoulder. Every Sunday she and Tsune would go shopping. Both hated doing it, but going together, sometimes with Rei and Sumei if they were available, made it tolerable.

"What do you mean 'not a big deal'?" the brunette asked, still in theatrics mode. "What with those mean dogs taking advantage of you. And in the rain no less." Again she rolled her eyes but her next comment was cut off as a police car sped down the street, sirens blazing.

"Well, that was random," Tsune muttered. Then she grabbed her hand and proceeded to tear after it.

"What are you doing?!" she screamed, being dragged along for the second time in twenty-four hours.

"This might be the break I'm looking for!" Tsune yelled back, still heading after the car, two identical vehicles soon following. Tsune was just always looking for her big break into journalism, she thought as she flew. Why, oh why though, why did she always have to be dragged along to help? Actually, why, oh why was she dragged anywhere period? Luckily, Tsune was no more of a runner than she was and soon they slowed from their breakneck speed to a more manageable crawl.

"You're just…lucky I grew out of…my asthma," she muttered as she caught her breath against a nearby building.

"You're…just…lucky I…didn't," Tsune replied, huffing and puffing as well.

"I'd laugh…at that if I could breathe," she said, smiling. "Come on." Helping her friend back onto her feet, they both continued back in the direction of the police cars. It wasn't hard to find them seeing as a crowd had already begun to form outside the house they had stopped at.

"Oooh, I wonder if it was a murder," Tsune whispered as she whipped out her notepad, right back to her peppy and curious self. "It better not be something boring like a robbery."

"Yes, because robberies are so…Hey…Tsune," she began, looking around the street as they continued towards the yellow tape that was just being put up outside the house to keep the crowd under control. "I think…I think this is the place. You know, from last night."

Her friend stopped in her tracks and turned to face her. "Really?" the other woman asked. Slowly she nodded. "Do you know what this means?" Tsune cried, suddenly excited. Confused, she mutely shook her head.

"Honya," Tsune said, grabbing her hands. "You're a witness!"

"A witness?"

At the new voice, they both turned to see one of the police officers pausing in his act of securing his yellow police tape. "Did you just say you witnessed this crime, young lady?" he asked, referring to Tsune. Her friend gave an amused laugh before grabbing her by the shoulders and pushing her closer to the officer.

"Not me," Tsune said with a grin. "My friend here might know somethin' though." The short haired woman, still gripping her shoulders, then directed her attention back to her. "You go ahead and tell him everything you told me about last night while I go over here and call the nearest TV station." And then her friend turned on her heel, cell phone in hand, to do just that, leaving her alone to talk to the officer.

"Hey…hey Tsune! C-come back!"

.-.-.-.-.-.

The Inspector continued to hover over Rachel for a moment before crouching down to her level. "Hey, Rachel," the older man said with a somewhat forced smile. "You doin' alright?" She shook her head slowly, the teen's eyes already welling up with fresh tears. "Would you mind answerin' a few questions?" Again she shook her head. Meguire took this as a go-ahead and produced his police issued note-pad. "That-a-girl," the Inspector commented, "please recount what happened from the time since you entered the house t'when you discovered the body."

"I was trying to find his…Shin…his house," Rachel began quietly, tripping over her words. "We had gone everywhere…Conan and I, I mean, had gone everywhere looking for it…and when we finally found it, Conan just barged in." She let out a surprising laugh and looked past the trench-coat wearing man to where he was sitting. "Didn't even take off his shoes…" At this Meguire turned around to follow the girl's gaze and raised a thick eyebrow at him.

"You forget your manners, boy?" Meguire asked.

Without missing a beat, he replied with a smirk, "Among other things." This comment only managed to put the Inspector more on edge, but the man said nothing.

"And what happened after he barged in?" Meguire inquired as he returned his attention to the bewildered teen.

"Well, I followed him," Rachel continued. "But it was so dark inside, I couldn't find where he went to…I was walking around, calling for him to come back so we could leave, but I don't think he heard me. Then I ran into one of the doors--the bathroom…and it opened…" Her voice trailed off and she scrunched her eyes shut. "Then the lights came on." Tears began to fall back down her face. "Oh God, it was horrible…"

"I think that's enough," Inspector Meguire commented quietly as he closed his notebook. Just as it snapped shut, one of the officers he had seen placing tape up outside burst through the front door, a frazzled looking young woman with a wild frizz of hair being pulled behind him.

"Inspector!" the officer called. "We may have found a witness!"

"A witness?" Meguire repeated. The officer nodded and gently guided the poor, light haired woman over to the Inspector. All three of them, himself included listened intently as the young woman, giving her name as Kei Honya, recounted her stroll last night with her dogs, albeit unsteadily.

"And what color was the car?" he asked suddenly, interrupting Ms. Kei just as she had gotten to the part where she had seen said car. Both the Inspector and the officer looked down at him, surprised.

"It was a truck," the woman corrected.

"Yes," he agreed, "but what _color _was it?" This time the woman paused.

"I want to say…" she began. "I want to say it was orange, or orange-yellow." He nodded and made a mental note.

"And did it have any designs on it? A decal of some kind or a logo?"

"No," Ms. Kei started. "No wait, yes! …maybe?" She made a confused face.

"Please, try to remember," he encouraged. He hadn't noticed but his hands had once again found their way to his pockets.

"Actually, now that I think about it," the fair haired woman said, touching her chin with her forefinger, "there was a triangular decal on the back and the sides. The same one…" She made a triangle with her hands, pressing her forefingers and thumbs together for a better reference, and showed it to him before letting her hands drop back to her sides. "Oh, but it was too dark to read what it said at the time. I'm sorry."

"Would you say it was a company-"

"Conan," Meguire said, butting in. "I think _we_," the man motioned to himself and the police officer, "can take it from here." For a moment he stared up at the both of them, suddenly feeling betrayed, but he said nothing. Nodding in agreement, he stepped away from the small group and back to Rachel as the Inspector continued to interrogate the witness without him.

"You always have to play detective," Rachel whispered once he had returned to her side.

"Do I?" he asked quietly. She didn't answer but instead wrapped her arms around his stomach in a from-behind hug. They stayed like this until Rachel was called away by the Inspector to run through her testimony one last time. Now alone, he left the living room and began to wander the house that had become filled with police.

Without meaning to, he had found his way to the infamous bathroom and paused in the doorway. Two men were already at work on clearing out what was left of the body while still attempting to preserve as much evidence as possible. He watched intently as one by one, pieces of Shinkei were tucked neatly away for analyzing.

What the hell was wrong with him?

He, a seven-year-old boy, was standing in the middle of a crime scene, blood splattered on every inch of the room before him, and yet he felt no fear.

He felt angry and saddened. He felt pity for the victim and hate towards his murderer.

But there was no fear, no terror, no fright.

What kind of child was he to be able to look upon such a horrific scene that would force any normal grown man to his knees and only feel the need for vengeance and closure?

There had to be something wrong with him…

Nothing was making sense…

"Conan," said a voice behind him. Turning, he saw it to be Meguire, pad tucked under his arm and pen in hand. "Come away from there, Conan," the Inspector insisted, moving to lead him away himself so there would be no room for refusal. "I need t'get your statement again." There was a pause then the large man added as an after thought, "Besides, that's no place for a child."

"Of course not," he agreed easily.

But I don't think I'm a child… 

.-.-.-.-.-.

She couldn't have the right house.

There was no way she had the right house.

Fishing the address out of her purse for the third time, she rechecked the scribbled script, hoping she had mistaken one of the numbers for something it wasn't.

But she hadn't. The address on the paper matched that of the house in front of her.

The house that was surrounded by police cars and a small crowd being held back by yellow police tape.

She had not expected this.

"Excuse me?" she asked, patting the nearest man on the shoulder. When he didn't respond, she repeated herself and patted him again. This time the man turned, an eyebrow raised at her. "Do you know what's going on here?" she inquired, trying to sound as polite as possible.

"I donno," the man replied. "Murder maybe?"

Well, that certainly wasn't the answer she wanted to hear. Trying to push her heart out of her throat, she thanked the man and went back to staring at the house before her.

It couldn't be a murder, she decided quickly. No way. If it was a murder, there'd be more police…wouldn't there? If it was a murder...he couldn't have been…?

Despite her better judgment, she began to make her way through the crowd. After fighting her way past a hand full of the random bystanders, she made it to the barricade of tape. There she stood a watched for a minute longer. There didn't seem to be any police holding people back. If she wanted to, she could just…just…

Without another thought, she ducked under the tape and made her way towards the house. A shout came up behind her from the crowd, someone trying to persuade her to come back. She paid no attention. She was almost through the threshold when a police officer, a bundle in his arms, bumped into her. Whatever he was holding was dropped in surprise.

She screamed.

The crowd screamed.

And Shinkei's head rolled down the steps.

It took her a minute to realize she was still screaming. It could've been anything, really. A curse. His name. Just…sound. She couldn't hear herself at all. She could barely feel the tears that were starting to stream down her face either. There was just this distinct impression that it was happening and not happening all at the same time.

It took her even longer to realize someone was holding her. Strong arms had taken her up off the steps--wait, when had she sat down?--and cradled her and rocked her and petted her hair. Looking up, she realized it was an older man, her father's age. Odd thoughts came to her then. Like how this man, one she'd never seen before, had a nice mustache. Or that his eyes made him look younger than he probably was.

Things you wouldn't think someone would think about after they'd just seen…

She didn't know who this man was, but she wrapped her arms around his waist and cried into his chest all the same. He just felt safe. Kinda like her--

"Dad?"

The comforting words the man had been repeating in her ears instantly broke off. "...Rachel?!" he cried, head shooting up towards the door. Then he looked back to her, eyes no longer so youthful when filled with confusion. "But..." Back the eyes went to the door. This repeated while he pulled away, holding her at arm-length. Studying her.

It felt unfair. Her legs didn't feel stable and the man wasn't letting her lean on him anymore.

After a moment of simply staring up into his face in confusion, she wiped her eyes and looked to where he was now staring--the doorway. There was a girl standing there, her hand wrapped around that of a young boy's.

A girl who looked just like her.

-----

"M-muh-my name is-is Aijo. Horobita Aijo."

Well, he officially felt like an idiot.

The tearful girl that was _not_ his daughter in any way, shape (well, some what) or form wiped at her eyes for the fourth time. It was obvious now the differences between her and Rachel. Maaaan, did he feel dumb.

"And how do you know the deceased?" the Inspector--apparently called in by the brat--was asking. The question caused fresh trails of tears to work their way down the young woman's face and she covered it with her hands, sobbing into them. The Inspector winced. "Sorry."

"I-I…I-I-I," Aijo ran the heel of her hand across each eye, trying to clear it. "I-I used--used to date him--be-before he had to move."

Oh, really? He couldn't stop himself. His eyes shot to Rachel, eyebrow perked. This _was_ the flower guy, right? With the huge bouquet? If he remembered correctly, they'd had a fight already about whether or not she'd be dating him.

There _had _to be sparks.

But his little girl didn't look jealous or anything. There was just the look of sympathy and understanding as she reached over and began to rub her double's back in a comforting way.

…and this was _really_ an odd picture. He just felt the need for throwing that out there.

He also was unable to overlook the sudden realization that crossed the squirt's face at the Rachel-twin's statement. Had half a mind to ask about it, too. Then Aijo continued.

"It's-i-it's been a year suh-since I saw him last," she was whimpering. Conan handed her a horribly girly looking handkerchief and she proceeded to dab at the overflowing wells in her face. "Ever--ever since he-he had to move. H-he never kept in touch. I…I-I just--just wanted tuh-to surprise him!" The testimony instantly dissolved again into a spectacle of water-works.

He and the Inspector exchanged glances. Well, that was about the best they'd get for the moment.

"Whatcha think, Moore?" the stocky man asked, flipping his notepad shut.

"She didn't do it," he replied without a second thought. "Unless you feel comfortable calling _those_," he motioned to the sobbing woman, "crocodile tears."

"…are those two twins?" piped a female voice behind him. Turning around, he found a short, frizzy haired lady standing there in an ugly sea-foam sweater. Something about her screamed nerd to him. Regardless, he didn't find her that attractive and thus gave her a What-Are-You-An-Idiot? look. The woman instantly shrunk away.

Meguire gave him a smack on the shoulder. "Be nice to the witnesses." He blinked.

"She's a witness?"

-----

Well, now it made sense.

Rachel looked like Aijo. Aijo and Shinkei used to date. Shinkei was using Rachel as a substitute while he was stuck out of contact with Aijo here in Tokyo.

He crossed his arms.

That was a shallow reason to date someone. And poor Aijo…

It'd taken many a try, constant stopping and restarting so the confession wasn't lost to her tears, but eventually the Rachel look-a-like told them her whole story. She'd arrived in Tokyo a couple days prior and was staying with her uncle, head of a construction company.

The company's employees also, according to her, were issued trucks.

This of course perked all their interests. Especially when her description of them matched quite snuggly with Ms. Kei's.

Aijo was their only murder suspect at the moment. Even with an alibi from her uncle, and a flimsy one at that, she was looking more and more like their best bet.

Only he didn't buy it.

Morning had passed and now it was early evening, but the girl had yet to run out of tears for Shinkei. They weren't fakes either, unless the girl turned out to be a renowned actress in disguise. And Rachel had yet to leave her side. While her father and Meguire worked--and constantly shooed him away when he tried to help--the girls sat, talking in low voices about the young man who had been brutally murdered in the house they were currently unable to leave. The conversation weighted heavily on Aijo, seeing as Rachel hadn't known even his name a week or so ago, and each story was slowed by her continuous hysterics. Still, it did them both good, and that was obvious. Both for Aijo to talk and Rachel to listen.

Maybe it was just his child's naivety finally popping its head out of hiding and getting some fresh air, but he'd bet top dollar that she wasn't their killer.

If she wasn't, though, this might be a long case…

…and really, the more he heard about Shinkei from Aijo, the more he actually liked him. She made him sound like a pretty decent guy.

And that thought made him feel like a terrible person. He'd never liked Shinkei, but never would he wish death--let alone one that was as painful as his seemed to have been--on anyone. Especially over something as stupid as jilted love.

A strange flare of anger suddenly told him differently. Rage. Death was, indeed, too good for some, he thought when it came. Even without a memory, there was someone he couldn't forgive.

…great. He was in love with his Might-As-Freaking-Well-Be-Sister AND had a personal vendetta. Oh, and was a freak of a seven-year-old. This just kept getting better and better.

"Inspector."

He looked up from where he sat, cozy in Rachel's lap as a young policeman approached Meguire, several sheets of paper in hand.

"Just in from forensics," the young man was saying. "The blood on the shirt matches that of the victim."

A flare of pride. That was _his_ clue, thank you.

"And any prints?" asked Meguire. The officer blinked at him.

"The shirt was dripping _wet_, sir."

He didn't know whether to facepalm or laugh.

Meguire chose the former over the latter. "On the _bucket_."

"Oh." The younger man looked about ready to blush with embarrassment as he shook his head. "N-no, sir." Sighing, the large man nodded to the policeman, saying in the motion that that's all he needed at the moment and turned back to Richard, no doubt to exchanging more possible MOs or situations leading up to the murder (all of which he found ridiculous for some reason or another. Especially if it came from the Old Man). The young man refused to leave, though.

Eventually, after about the third time he cleared his throat, the Inspector realized he was still there. "What?"

"Uhh…the--the media's here," was the quiet response.

Meguire blinked. Then his face reddened just slightly, in what he suspected to be anger. "Well, get 'em outta here!" he nearly boomed. And off the young man went, most likely to do just that. Both he, the Inspector and Richard watched him leave before the former two rejoined the wet-eyed group in the corner.

"Ms. Horobita?" Meguire addressed the girl kindly, even if his face was fixed in an unhappy frown. Looking up, the girl nodded. "I hate t'say it, but you're our only suspect. There'll be no more delayin'. We need t'take you Down Town."

The girls liquid, brown eyes welled up again, but Aijo bit her lip and nodded. His lips pulled slightly. She could be a lot stronger than she looked. The man offered her a hand up, Richard doing the same for his daughter.

Two shouts came from the doorway and the hands instantly withdrew.

"Inspector!"

"Leggo of me!"

With a blink, he, the Moores, Meguire and Aijo turned towards the door as one to see a man being dragged in by two police officers. The man was red in the face and struggled against the officer's grips on his upper arms, spewing insults to them as they pulled him closer.

"We got a trouble maker?"

"He was--was trying to break up t-the crowd outside," one officer explained, stumbling over his words as the man continued to thrash in attempts to pull away. "With his _truck_."

His eyebrows shot upwards.

"Truck?"


End file.
